Elemental
by darknessslayer0
Summary: Maleficient returns and the heartless are more powerful than ever, but with Sora and the others out of commission, it's up to the next generation of keyblade wielders to protect the worlds. Will they be able to do it, or will they die trying?
1. Mickey's Request!

Notes: Takes place after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, but it's an original story. I do not own the series or any of the characters, except the one I make up. Besides, if I did, the game would have been darker and better, maybe a little more perverted as well. This will be rewritten since its not that great. Please review after reading, otherwise how else would I know how to improve; I value feed back, even if it's negative.

**Chapter 1: Mickey's Request!**

_My dearest Minie,_

_Donald, Goofy, and I are doing our hardest to locate Sora and Riku. They left to the realm of darkness to find their friend Kairi, who has been kidnapped by a certain someone, but we can't prove it just yet. If my hunch is right, we're all in deep trouble._

"Oh no!" Minie gasped. "I thought she was gone for good."

_Minie, the heartless will come back soon, stronger than they were before, and in greater numbers I might add. Since our legendary keyblades are no longer able to protect the worlds at this time, I am going to need you to do something for me._

"Anything for you, my king," Minie commented with fierce determination.

_In the throne room, behind our portrait, is a safe. It's specifically sealed by magic to make sure you're the only one who can open it at anytime. Once opened, you'll see a medium sized, black box containing the five elemental keyblades. When you open the box, the keyblades should shoot out and find their rightful owners. Whoever they may find are the only ones who can protect us while we're out of commission. My queen, I miss you dearly. I know I'm out of the castle a lot, but it's to protect our worlds from the forces of darkness. Speaking of forces of darkness.............._

"Whoa, that is inappropriate," Minie commented with a huge grin on her face.

She rushed to the throne room and accidentally bumped into Daisy on the way, knocking them both down. Daisy was about to asked what happened, but Minie grabbed her by the hand and told her that she will fill her in on the way. Once they arrived in front of the throne room, Minie unsealed the door and rushed in. Daisy stood in the door way looking dazed and confused. It was safe to say she wasn't informed, and if she was , she was completely lost. Minie swung open the portrait like there was no tomorrow, and saw the safe that was fore-mentioned in her letter. She knew her magic could open it, but she had no idea how.

"Figures that the king gives you the the tools you need, but not the knowledge of how to use them," Daisy kept to herself as she reached the end of the letter that she somehow got a hold of. Minie took a deep breath and struck her hand out. A pink glow surrounded her hand and the combination lock started to solve itself. A few seconds passed and the door opened. Minie reached inside and grabbed the box and placed it on her throne. She gazed at it for a little while, hoping to see a mere glimpse or even a faded memory of her Mickey touching this same box. Slowly she opened it, and saw five small keys. They slowly began to glow and shot out into the sky in five different colors, and to start the destinies of five unsuspecting people. "There, now the faith of the worlds are no longer my problem," the queen squeaked at a job well done.

"Since that's out of the way," the duck smiled, "we need to have a little talk."

* * *

A gentle breeze blew, causing a rustle among the leaves. Long red hair that has been contained by nothing more than a pony tail gently floated along. Deep amber eyes gazed out to the endless ocean, searching for something that isn't there. As the wind blew, the yellow tee shirt decorated with a light purple butterfly, stuck to her chest, but the wind had no effect on the khaki caprice she was wearing. "Rachel," the wind cried as it blew passed her. She turned around and headed into the forest. She, like many other people, lived on a Destiny island with another family. After all, Destiny Islands were a group of land masses that can be traveled between each other by small row boats. She shared her island with another girl called Kairi, but never actually met her because she always left early in the morning, and sometimes came back late at night.

She recalled this one time where Kairi fell into a tide pool and got her clothes wet, which was the last time that Kairi wore all white. She didn't blame her, but herself for not taking the chance to go and help her. Rachel considered following her or even waiting for her, but that could be taken the wrong way, such as stalking. She had left the forest and arrived at the pier, yet again, almost going out of everyday habit, and noticed that Kairi hasn't been back yet again. She sighed a little and stared out out into the sea again. Her parents wouldn't let her leave the island to visit her friends, since the ocean is "dangerous" and they don't want her to "disappear" like "some of the other children" have done. The local girl was the only other one who lived on the island that was even close to her age. Although the friendship didn't blossom sine no communication had ever happened between them.

Bothered by her own thoughts, the red-headed girl took in a deep breath and shouted, "I WISH I COULD GET OFF OF THIS STUPID ROCK! I WANT TO EXPLORE NEW PLACES, SEE MY FRIENDS, AND MAYBE EVEN MEET NEW PEOPLE! I'M TRAPPED IN A CAGE, WAITING TO BE SET FREE!" She didn't even know if she meant this stuff, it was just something she did that was a therapeutic. A release if you must. The wind grew stronger and the sky darkened, almost to where it was pitch black. It started to rain, but something was different here, after all, the water was a dark purple.

"A storm?" she gasped as she looked around, "but it's too early in the season." She started to head home, stepping in the puddles caused by the "rain". "That's weird, my shoe isn't wet," she noticed after stepping in quite a few. She stopped for a moment and turned around and noticed that something was emerging from the puddles. Small shadow-like things appeared (a shadow heartless I don't feel like describing). They rotated their head from side to side until they have set their sights on her. "That's not a friendly look," she thought as she turned tails and ran. She headed into the forest in hopes of losing them, but the plan backfired considering she tripped on a tree root that was sticking up from the ground. She turned around, still on the ground, and saw that they were closing in on her.

Just then, by some sheer miracle or maybe even divine intervention, a beam of green light shot out of the sky and hit the Shadows which caused them to vanish and small hearts to float in the sky. A light sparkled around Rachel's hand, and it revealed a keyblade. It had an emerald green hilt (unlike Sora's which is gold) and a sliver key shaped blade. Wait, why am I describing it, you guys know what a keyblade looks like, well I hope. Rachel quickly rose and stood her ground as the chain part with Mickey's logo dangled down. She didn't know how, but she'll fight off these strange creatures. It was as the heavens were on her side, a key lock shaped portal appeared in front of her. She glanced at it, even without hesitation, she jumped in, using it as a reason to escape the creatures and the island.

She fell into darkness for a few minutes until she landed on a dark, flat surface. She looked around to see if there was anyway she could place where she was at, but it was a futile effort. A light emerged from underneath her, a green calming glow. She stood up on her feet and looked to see where the light was coming from. A huge gasp escaped her mouth as she noticed that she was on a stained-glass surface. It was a green, circular surface, with a full body picture of her in the middle. The clothes she was wearing were faded out so she had no idea about what they were. She noticed that in the four corners were four small circles with pictures of four people she was familiar with. She shook her head as to awaken from this day dream, but it wouldn't be shaken. In a flash of light a door appeared on the other side of the surface. Rachel rushed over, but the door was locked and it wouldn't budge and inch. Rachel sighed as she released the door handle. She need to find a way out of here, and it seemed that the only solution was through the mysterious door.

"Do not fear," a female voice called out to her. It was sweet and coaxing. Rachel looked around to see where the voice was coming from, but it couldn't be placed. "I have come to help you," the voice informed her.

"Help me with what?" Rachel questioned the voice.

"I have come to help you," the voice repeated like a broken record. Rachel stepped back from the door. Something told her to get away. Just then, she was pushed back by some unknown force. She quickly got up and realized that she was on the other side of the surface again. Far away from the door. She looked down and saw that under her stained-glass picture, was a weird symbol, and flower petals that surrounded a scythe. She slowly looked back up and saw dark spheres forming in front of the door.

"I will help you realize your inner strength to help you combat the heartless," the voice informed her.

"Heartless," Rachel repeated back to herself as to confirm that it was the truth. The spheres merged together and formed a shadowy bird like heartless. It looked like the mix of an eagle, a crow, and some strange deformed phoenix. Her eyes widened in fear, her heart pounded against her chest, and fear lodged deep in the back of her throat; Rachel had no idea what to do. She remember that some strange blade appeared when she was at her island, but where did it go to. The creature flapped its wings to stay afloat as it glared at the redhead.

"How do I get past this thing?" Rachel pondered. The creature didn't move; it just stayed in place.

"First you have to choose to proprieties of your blade," the voice instructed her. Rachel looked confused as three balls of light appeared in front of her. One was a sword, the second was a wand, and the last was a shield. "What do you want to do?" the voice questioned her in a nagging tone.

"I just want to leave this area," Rachel responded with tears in her eyes.

"Not good enough!" the voice scolded, "just choose one." Rachel hesitated, but grabbed the one in the middle, which was a wand. Moments after, the bird's wings started to glow and it headed towards Rachel. "Call out you key blade!" the voice ordered.

"I don't know how!" Rachel told her as the bird flew past her. Rachel was shocked that nothing happened, but a few seconds flown by before she felt the "sonic wing" attack. This shock wave knocked her back and sent her flying back a little, almost knocking her off the surface.

"Hold out your hand and call the keyblade in your mind," the voice instructed. Rachel followed orders just as the bird was reading the same attack.

"KEYBLADE HELP ME!" Rachel shouted in her mind. A glow of light appeared in her hands followed by the keyblade. The bird let out a huge screech, reacting to the keyblade.

"Wind can knock out this heartless," the voice informed, making sure Rachel survived. Rachel nodded and pointed her keyblade at the fiend. It's like the knowledge to fight was awakened in her head. The heartless bird readied it wings and launched itself at Rachel.

"Whirlwind!" Rachel cried as a green gust of wind came out of her blade and stricken the bird. Somehow this was enough to stop the bird considering it was knocked back before it exploded into ashes and a bigger heart than the ones that she had seen was unleashed.

"Now it's time to tell you about the most important property of your blade. It can be used to unlock almost any door. All you have to do is point and it will unlock," the voice explained. Rachel didn't trust this, but she had no other choice. She walked over to the door and did exactly as she was told.

"It worked," she cheered, as an unlocking sound was heard and the door became more solid. Rachel sighed as her keyblade vanished. She placed her hand on the knob and turned it. She opened the door and then she removed her hand. The door stood ajar as her breath got heavier. Should she trust the voice and enter an unknown world? She wanted an adventure so she slowly opened the door all the way and walked into the dark, mysterious unknown.

Chapter 2: Preview

We now set our sights on the next two wielders. What will be in store for them, and would it be similar the the experience Rachel had?


	2. Water or Fire!

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, if I did, it would be darker and more perverted.

**Chapter 2: Water or Fire**

"Hurry up Corey; the boat isn't going to repair itself!" a girl with black hair that hung to her shoulders shouted. Corey dropped the wood he was carrying to glare at her with his fierce light brown eyes. She stared back at him with her dark brown eyes, completely oblivious as to why he was mad. He pushed the bangs of his brown hair that had been hanging in his face behind his ears. All this hard work was wearing him out, and the heat didn't help his cause much. He wondered how Manikha, who was wearing pitch black dark pants, heavy, black combat boots, and a blue, sleeveless shirt, with the word "Evil" in a darker blue across the chest wasn't hot.

"How did you even break your boat to begin with?" the male questioned her. She looked at him, wearing his blue jeans, white shoes, and light blue shirt that had the word "Key" spelled out in black letters going down the shirt and looked up.

"It's a long story, and I don't feel like boring you with the details," she giggled as she leaned against one of the palm tree that lined the shores of the beach.

"Don't worry," Corey smugly said, "we've got nothing but time."

"Well... I don't remember," she responded with a smile. Corey was infuriated by her answer. Why won't she tell him how she broke the boat? After all, he _was _the one who was fixing it. Corey stood up, dropped the hammer and started walking off.

"Fix it yourself," he told her jerkily. Her eyes started to water up,

"But, I don't know how," the all too familiar sob story started, "everyone here knows that you're the best at fixing small boats."

"I'm not going to fall for that again," Corey stood his ground as he told her.

"Fine, don't fix my boat, it's not like you'll do a good job anyways," Manikha tried to turn the tables.

"Good," he grinned, "If I fixed it, you'd just break it again." Corey continued to walk away with Manikha watching with a confused expression as she tried to figure out exactly what had just happened. She let out a big sigh and walked over to her boat that was flipped over in the sandy shore. She soon noticed that the boat was already fixed as she bent down to pick up the hammer.

"That idiot," she muttered to herself, as she shook her head in disbelief.

As he walked home from the beach, Corey wondered if the plan to kidnap Rachel would really work. After all, her parents sheltered her from the rest of the world. Corey frowned as he reflected on the past. He remembered this one time where Rachel's parents freaked out when she was five minutes late coming home from school. He sighed and soon arrived at his house. He reached for the knob but it was locked.

"This is strange," Corey thought as he reached into this pocket.

* * *

After flipping the newly fixed boat over, Manikha pushed it into the water. She grabbed the rope to pull the boat closer to her pier. She needed to tie it off so it wouldn't float away, or to keep animals from making homes in it. She left the pier and walked back over to the area where Corey had been fixing the boat and noticed something shining in the sand. She brushed it off a little and realized that the idiot had forgotten his keys. She picked them up and thought that she should return them to him, otherwise, he'd never hear the end of it from his parents.

The sun started to set, filling the sky with many different colors. Manikha enjoyed watching the sun set, although she would never tell her friends because there was a side of her that no one needed to know about. She saw Corey sitting on a rock wall outside his house. He was staring at the sky, watching and wondering what was going on up there.

"Hey Corey, got something for ya," she called out as she walked towards him.

"A thank you gift? What a rare surprise," Corey pointed out.

"Shut up, it's your keys," she informed him. The brown hair boy grabbed the keys from her,

"Where did you find these?" he asked, grateful.

"You left them on the beach, where you were repairing my boat," she answered.

"Well thanks for bring them back to me," he thanked her.

"It was either that or throw them in the ocean," she joked with him.

"Hey that's something that I would normally say," he snapped at her.

"Well you are rubbing off on me," the long haired girl scolded but in a joking tone of voice. The wind started to pick up a little.

"Do you feel that?" Corey asked her, as something inside him set off an alarm.

"Yeah, it's the breeze," she said.

"No, it feels like a storm is coming," he explained. She stood there quietly for a few seconds until she felt it herself.

"You're right," she gasped. After practically living on an island for your whole life, you can smell a storm a mile away.

"Something's not right about this," Corey pointed out.

"We should head to the beach," Manikha panicked. Corey nodded in agreement and they both ran to the beach. When they arrived there, they noticed that there was no disturbance among the waves. Manikha knelt down to feel the water; it was as cold as ever. Corey let out a huge sigh.

"Maybe it was nothing," he thought as he folded his hands behind his head. He looked up and noticed that the sky was thick and pitch black.

"That's not good," Manikha pointed out.

"Obviously," Corey grunted and resisted the urge to smack her up side her head. The ground started to violently shake, causing the two to almost lose their balance. Bubbles started to appear from the water, and a huge shadow emerged from the depths of the ocean. It landed with a huge impact on the shore. The shock wave from the landing knocked Corey down and sent Manikha flying back, almost into a tree. Well, that what she gets for being as slim as a twig and weighing almost nothing. When Corey and Manikha were finally able to stand their ground, they got a good look at the beast: it was about six feet in height and looked like a turtle except with two serpent-like heads. On the shell and forehead of each serpent was the "heartless symbol". Two lights shot out from the sky: a blue one which made contact with the girl, and a red one who collided with the boy. The lights turned out to be keyblades, which were exactly the same as the kingdom blade, except Corey's had a ruby hilt, while Manikha's had a sapphire hilt. The area surrounding them faded into darkness.

Manikha and Corey looked around their surroundings and saw that they were standing on a flat surface, but at least they were together. They looked down to see what exactly they were standing on, and discovered it was a stain-glass surface. Manikha noticed that her stain glass surface was a deep blue with her standing in the middle, with an open book underneath her next to a strange symbol, with the portrait of four other people in the cardinal directions. Corey, on the other hand, had a different stain glass, even though they were on the same surface. His was red, with him standing at the right edge, while on the left were the four portraits going down in a straight line. He couldn't make out the symbol or the weapon-like thing that was in between them. The fiend roared and two beams of light emerged in front of the duo while a door appeared behind the shadow turtle thing.

"Pick one," a male and female voice said at the same time. The couple hesitated as they didn't know exactly what was going on.

"One will help you defend," the female voice informed.

"While the other will help you protect," the male voice said matter of factly. Manikha stepped forward and touched the one in front of her, which turned out to be a shield.

"Use the power of water to attack," the female voice instructed. Corey saw that Manikha was trusting the voices, so he took a step forward and jabbed the light sphere that was floating in front of him. A sword faded with the light.

"Use the power of fire to attack," the male voice ordered him. Corey nodded. Manikha and Corey help up their blades and pointed them at the fiend.

"Combine your attacks!" the combined voices told them. Manikha's blade started to glow blue, while a red aura surrounded Corey's.

"Whirlpool," Manikha called out, confused.

"Firespin," Corey declared, also not sure of what he was doing. A whirlpool of water and fire were emitted from the blades and shot out at the beast. In mid air, their attacks combined without canceling each other out. It struck the beast and made it vanish. A heart gently floated in the sky. The couple rushed to the door; the lock automatically undid itself and they walked through the door into the unknown.

Chapter 3 preview:

The final two wielders are introduced, which will get all of the awkward, boring stuff out of the way.


	3. The Other Two!

Notes: I want to clear up something from the last chapter. Normally water and fire will cancel each other out and all that will be left is smoke. Although considering the universe this story takes place in, the attacks just joined, think of it like a spiral of water and fire, where they are next to each other and barely touching. Wait that just makes it confusing, whatever take it as you want. Also don't forget to review, because when you do, the next chapter gets made all the faster.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, if I did, Roxas wouldn't have merged with Sora.

**Chapter 3: The Other Two**

The final island in the Destiny Islands chain was a small and peaceful one. The sea sparkled from the ever-shining sun, and the white sand, if the beach was bright enough, you could go blind by looking at it, just like the sun. There was a small forest area, next to a huge mountain. Not much was on this little island, besides a few people. A young girl wearing khakis and a black t-shirt with a red pentagram was walking along the beach. Her black hair was medium in length, with the tips a light blonde, and tied in a ponytail that was blowing gently in the breeze. She was walking along the shores of the beach and came across a strange animal.

"What a cute seal," she thought as it playfully barked. Then in a blink of an eye, she kicked it and sent it flying into the ocean with a loud crash and a huge splash. With her light brown eyes, she stared at the water.

"Who had the nerve to put this baby seal in my path?" she asked aloud as she looked around. Up in a tree, next to the beach, she saw a young man staring down at her with blue eyes. His spiky, short, black hair with a blue streak on the left side, also gently blew in the breeze. "Was it you Thomas?" she asked with a hint of rage in her voice.

"No, I just got here," he responded and jumped down from the tree. For a moment it seemed like his black pants got snagged, but that wasn't the case. His white shirt with the word "moo" in black letters, and his black vest flew up to signal it was quite a drop. "Besides," the spiky-haired kid continued, "I wouldn't touch one of those things, they get vicious."

"I see, you're just a coward," she taunted him.

"You're right, I am a coward. I am so much of a coward, I'm heading home," he teased and pretended to leave.

"Don't leave; I called you out here to show you something," the raven-head told him.

"What could possibly be out here, Courtney?" Thomas questioned with boredom.

"Well I found a cave, one that was never there before," she informed him with some excitement in her voice.

"A new cave, how exciting," the boy mocked. Courtney didn't pick up on his sarcasm, which was unusual for her, so she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to where the mountain was.

It took a few minutes to travel across the small rock and to reach the towering mountain.

"I'm still surprised that this mountain hasn't sunken our rock yet," Thomas pointed out.

"You say that every time we come here," Courtney said.

"Each time I'm still surprised," he told her.

"Whatever," she thought. They reached the cave entrance and stopped outside and looked in.

"It's pretty dark in there," the boy pointed out.

"Sure is, should we go in?" the blond-tipped girl asked. The two people stared in and were wondering what was inside. Just then, two lights shot out of the cave and hit the two people. The male was hit by and orange light while the female was hit with the yellow. They held out their hands and key shaped blades appeared in their hands. Courtney had a normal keyblade with a golden hilt while Thomas had a strange onyx-ammolite (black and orange) hilt.

"I guess this means we go in," the spiky head stated.

"Why is yours black?" Courtney questioned him.

"It's just because I am that awesome," he responded and laughed.

"You're such a jerk," she scolded him and walked in the cave, with the boy shortly following her. They took a few steps in, and they were surprised that it was well lit. They wondered why they couldn't see the light from the outside.

They continued to explore the cave but it wasn't that adventurous considering they were walking in a straight line the whole time. A lot of time had elapsed and they reached a light at what seemed to be the end of the cave. There was a wall with a strange glowing light shaped like a key lock hole. Courtney stepped closer to investigate it but a cloaked figure dropped from the ceiling to stop her.

"Who are you?" the strange man asked the two of them.

"I'm Shift and she's Surge," Thomas lied to the man.

"Who are you?" Courtney inquired the stranger.

"My name is not important," he sternly told them, "why do you two have keyblades?"

"Is that what these are?" Thomas asked.

"Well, they just kinda shot out of the sky and hit us," Courtney explained to him.

"Hand them over to me!" he ordered. The stranger started to walk over towards them.

"I'm sorry Courtney," the boy said as he picked her up and threw her. She was sent flying a few feet in front of them and the cloaked figure dodged to get out of her way.

"IF I EVER SEE YOU AGAIN, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU," she warned just before she went through the keyhole. The stranger held out both of his hands and two keyblades appeared.

"This is the last time I'm going to tell you! Hand over your keyblade!" he ordered once again.

* * *

Courtney landed in a dark room on a flat yellow surface. She was glad that she was okay, but she wondered exactly where she was. She slowly got up and saw her head on the ground. She panicked as she quickly rose to her feet and saw her whole body in strange clothes. Underneath her were four spheres with heads in them. On each side of her where a strange symbol and a chakram, which she found weird.

"Where am I?" she quietly asked herself.

"You're here to prove yourself," a female voice called out to her.

"Well that is nice and all, but where am I?" Courtney asked her.

"Well, there is no name for this place, just call it limbo for now," the voice told her.

"Strange," the blond-tipped girl thought to herself as she continued to look around. In a flash, a strange bolt of lightning struck the ground just in front of the door that was opposite of Courtney. A strange shadow creature emerged. It was shaped like a dark storm cloud, with an eye in the center, and a metal spike in every corner.

"What is that?" Courtney asked in fear.

"It is a heartless, but that would be explained to you in another chapter. Right now all you have to do is defeat it," the female voice instructed her.

"How am I suppose to do that?" she questioned the voice.

"You're the keyblade wielder of lightning, you'll be fine," the voice encouraged.

"Oh, that's great to know," she sighed.

"Just use a lightning attack!" the voice scolded her.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Courtney inquired.

"You just do, okay?" the voice started getting on edge instructing her.

"Hey I'm a little new at this. I think you can cut me some slack," she fought back with the voice.

"Whatever, I hope you lose," the voice told her and it started to fade.

"If I ever find a body that matches your voice, you're in for a real ass kicking buddy!" she warned.

"Bring it on!" the voice called her out. Courtney sighed and shook her head. She couldn't believe that she was fighting with a random voice. She knew what need to be done. She held out her keyblade and pointed it at the monster that was blocking her path, though it wasn't attacking her what-so-ever.

"Charge beam," she called out. A huge bolt of lightning came out and made contact with the fiend. It fell to the ground and poofed out of existence. In its place was a small heart that quietly floated into the sky. The door swung wide open, sort of like it was forced open. "I guess I am supposed to go through that door," Courtney sighed as she walked over and entered.

* * *

"Damnit," Thomas screamed as he was sent flying back. "Why do you want my keyblade?" he asked the stranger.

"There are things going on in these worlds that you do not need to be a part of," the mysterious man informed him.

"I don't care, I was given this keyblade and I need to know what I am supposed to do," Thomas told him.

"Not if I kill you first," the stranger said as he rushed towards him. Thomas managed to dodge the caped man and also caught a glimpse underneath the hood. He saw spiky blond hair and what seemed to be a hazel eye.

"Why are you attacking me?" the boy asked.

"Your keyblade element is that of earth. It is quite unstable and powerful, not meant to be in the hands of a novice," the stranger started to monologue. "Once I acquire yours, I will go after all of your friends who have also received a keyblade. Sora should be the one to save these worlds, and I won't have it screwed up by a bunch of kids who decided to play hero."

"Sora," Thomas gasped.

"You're familiar with that name?" the stranger questioned without looking at Thomas.

"Yeah, he lives a few islands over. He used to come and visit us every now and then but about a year ago, he just vanished off the face of this world. We were all wondering what happened to him, but after the events of today, I have a pretty good idea."

"Well then, with this information, will you give up?"

"Nope, this is just starting and I don't want to miss out. See ya." Thomas finished what he said and jumped through the portal in which he sent Courtney flying in. He landed on a glowing orange surface but noticed that the other person followed him.

"I see, so you have one of these "rooms" as well." The spiky haired boy looked around and saw nothing but darkness. Then he looked down, and noticed he was on a stain-glass surface that seemed to be floating. What really surprised him was the full body rendering of himself in the middle. There were four other people there as well, well at least their heads and necks. Two on each side of them. Then he noticed above his head was a strange symbol with a guitar shaped item.

"What is this?" he questioned himself as he stared back at the stranger.

"It doesn't matter, if you want to get through that door, you'll have to go through me first," the stranger informed him. Just then Thomas rushed him, and swung his keyblade. The stranger didn't have time to react, which allowed the boy to take him by complete surprise and hit him in the head. The unknown enemy was knocked out allowing Thomas to rush towards the door before the stranger to recover from the ambush. Thomas sighed as he reached the door. He turned the knob but it wouldn't budge.

"Hmmm, I wonder," he thought as he looked at his keyblade. "This is a key, so it should be able to open the door," he thought as he pointed it at the door. "OPEN!" he screamed loudly in his head. The door slowly creaked open and he pushed it to open the rest of the way. He slowly walked through the door into the unknown darkness.

Preview for chapter 4:

Now that everyone has their keyblade in hand, it is time to upgrade their looks and to learn about why they were called. What better way to get informed than having a talked with Yen Cid?


	4. What Just Happened?

Author notes: Sorry it took so long, and sorry for how this chapter turned out. Also don't forget to review, I value your input. Remember, every time you don't review, an angel gets a hernia.

**Chapter 4: What Just Happened?**

An unknown room in a mysterious place, shrouded in darkness. The only light was a faint green glow that came from the center of the room. It came from a pot with a dark green liquid inside slowly rotating in a clockwise motion. In the liquid, you can barely make out figures of people holding a strange sword in their hands. Several dark figures surrounded the pot, staring in, and watching the unsuspecting people.

"I see not everyone could make it," a stern female voice called out. Everyone's attention was turned towards the door. A tall lean woman walked in the room. She had a staff in her hand and a crown on her head. Obviously she was the leader of these people. Shortly after her entrance, a short and balky figure walked in. It was apparent that this guy had no "self-control". He stumbled as he walked and took his time to make it to his master's side.

"I bet you all are wondering why I called you here," the crowned lady spoke.

"We have a pretty good idea," a small female voice spoke. This voice came from a small fairy-like woman who was sitting at the edge of the pot, looking at his contents.

"Is that so?" the guy with the spare-tire gut asked. The leader looked at him. She was about to say something, but decided against it.

"Indeed, but we would like to know how it happened," a lean woman asked as her tentacles flowed about.

"I thought you got rid of those brats," a southern angry voice said. It came from a fat, star shaped man.

"She did, but we haven't tangled with these guys," the hot-headed man sighed as he slammed his hands down on the cauldron.

"Mind telling us your plan again?" the female cat purred with delight.

"Pete, explain it to them!" the leader ordered.

"Right away ma'am!" Pete reacted. "We simply kidnap the most important princess of heart, Kairi, and use her as bait to draw Sora and Riku to try to find her. Then we leak misleading information to the king, who brings Donald and Goofy on a wild goose chase with him. With that done, the keybladers are gone once and for all!" Pete laughed, "Well, at least long enough to get our hands on the Kingdom Hearts again."

"Although it would seem that the king had a trick up his sleeve we weren't aware of," the crowned lady pointed out.

"So what is our new battle plan? As we see, they already obtained their keyblades, and are on their way to Yen Sid tower," the flamer inquired.

"Well, they are still wet behind the ears, and since they will be traveling to all of our worlds sooner or later, we simply have to crush them," the evil woman chuckled.

"What makes you think we're going to take this huge of a gamble?' the star asked.

"You don't have a choice in the matter. Come Pete! We have some planning to do."

* * *

On an unsuspecting island, gently floating in the sky, a huge story is about to begin. The luscious grass gently flowed in the breeze. The flowers were smiling and dancing in the sun. The trees quietly slept, huddled up, protecting one another. In the middle of this small land mass, stood a long tower. It had one wooden door at the entrance, and several hundred hole-like windows. From the endless blue sky, a lock-shaped portal opened up, and five different colored lights shot out and crashed to the ground. The lights faded along with the smoke and dust, revealing five teenagers who were passed out. Hearing the loud crash, an old man who looked like Merlin, except with a meaner look and a dark blue, star pattern hat, came out. His dark blue robe swayed in the wind. He gazed upon the unconscience kids and snapped his fingers. In a poof of smoke, they were gone.

Corey awoke in a daze wondering where he was. He brushed a hand through his medium length, medium brown hair and sighed. Where exactly was he?

"I see you're awake as well," the spiky head called out to him.

"Thomas? Is that you?" Corey questioned.

"The one and only," he answered.

"Where exactly are we?" Corey inquired.

"That's the million munny question," he responded.

"Would you two shut-up? Some of us are trying to get some sleep!" Rachel scolded. She turned her back to the two boys, then it finally sunk in. She screamed bloody-murder, waking the other two girls from their slumber. When Rachel finally calmed down, the teens sat at the edge of their beds and started to converse. Each of them relayed their stories to one another and found that there were some similarities. A) they all had keyblades, B) they were attacked on their islands, and C) they ended up in some weird room with a stain glass surface of themselves.

"This is some pretty freaky stuff," Corey commented after a long silence.

"I don't think it was a mere coincidence that the five of us were chosen," Thomas told them.

"What if it was Thomas? Did you ever think about that?" Rachel asked.

"Good question," Manikha added.

"Well I-" Thomas started.

"Thought so," Rachel smiled with evil intent.

"Anyway, what do we do now?" Courtney generally asked.

"After all, we have no idea where we are, or why we have keyblades," Corey elaborated off of Courtney's thought.

"We can always go down stairs and ask the people down there. Since they brought us up to this room, they might be able to help us out," Thomas shared his thought.

"Well, it never hurts to ask," Rachel agreed along with everyone else. They heard footsteps echoing around in the hallway near their room. The not-Merlin man entered their rooms only a few seconds later. He noticed the lost and confused looks on their faces. One of them was about to say something, but he held up his hand to stop them from talking.

"I am Yen Sid, master magician. I'll explain everything in a bit, so save your questions until then. Before that time comes however, you will need to go downstairs. There, the good witches will prepare some new clothes for the adventure ahead," Yen Sid explained. With all that said and done, he quietly left the room, leaving the teens at a total loss of what just happened.

"Pink!" a woman shouted.

"Blue!" a different woman called out. The gang peered in the doorway and saw three mini-sized women, each one wearing a solid yet different color.

"Pink!" the plump one in red called out as she pointed her wand at a dress that was standing in the middle of the room.

"Blue!" the other plump woman in blue cried as she changed the color of the dress yet again. The green one however, who was quite slim, sighed and shook her head at the stupid argument.

"If this is a bad time, we could come back later," Thomas said nervously as he scratch the back of his head. This comment startled the ladies, (must have been a long time since they gotten visitors) as they turned their heads towards the door. The group smiled at them, and they smiled back, then they continued to fight like nothing happened.

"Never mind them dears. I'm Fauna," the green fairy introduced herself. "Those are my sisters. The one in red is Flora, and the other one is Merryweather. What can I do for you?"

"That magic guy sent us to get new clothes," Rachel answered while being distracted by the ever-changing dress.

"I see, but I'll need my sisters magic for a task this big," Fauna started as she looked towards her sisters. "Although they seem to be distracted at the moment."

"How hard is it to make clothes?" Manikha wondered.

"You know there is a complicated process to it. After all, it is magic," Corey whispered to her.

"When they're like this, I have no idea how to get their attention," Fauna explained. Everyone let out a huge sigh. Then Courtney's face lit up with an idea.

"Oh my, since everyone is so busy, I guess we'll leave our clothing design up to you," Courtney started to rant, which caught the attention of the other two faeries. Everyone was surprised by the fact that one sentence worked, considering the other two faeries came rushing towards the group. In a blink of an eye, they were lined up against the wall with the three faeries staring at them, talking amongst themselves. A few torturous minutes later, they all pointed their wands as the sky. Then they counted to three then swung at the teens, engulfing them in a strange, golden light. When it finally faded, everyone was in their new adventure outfits.

First was Manikha sporting an all pink style, much to her dislike. She had a bright pink dress that had thin straps and a low neck line. The length of the dress stopped right above her knees, but right below it were her dark pink boots. She also had dark pink gloves on that matched her pink choker.

Next to her was Courtney, who was wearing a kind of short, tight-fitting, sleeveless, black hoodie, with a light gray trim and dark gray, almost black jeans. The boots were black, almost matching everything else.

Thomas' clothes were similar. He had pitch black jeans and black boots, a studded white belt, a cow-printed t-shirt, black fingerless gloves, with a loose black vest, that surprisingly had a hood.

Then there was Rachel, who was wearing hot pink pants with a pair of long, black, high heel shoes (perfect for saving the world in). She had a purple polka-dotted, white collared shirt that was tucked in, and a shining black leather jacket that was zipped halfway up.

Finally there was Corey, who's outfit looked like it was just thrown together. There was a plain black tee, with a short sleeved, white collard shirt what was opened, over it. He had regular blue jeans on, with a pair of white and black running shoes on. It seems not much thought was put into this. Murmurs went through the crowed.

"Well what do you think?" the faeries asked in unison.

"Well faeries, I'd say you have excellent taste," Rachel complimented.

"Does it make me look cool?" Corey asked.

"As long as it's easy to move in, I'm okay with it," Thomas commented.

"Why am I wearing pink..." Manikha asked trying to hold back the tears. The other four gave a strange glance.

"These can really show off my skills," Courtney approved.

"We're glad that you guys like them," Merryweather stated. "But now it is time to go see Master Sid."

"Yes, we already wasted much of your time here," Flora added. Before anyone could get even a s word in, they were rushed out and practically pushed down the stairs.

They arrived at Yen Sid's office, which was rather large. It had a desk with a chair in front of the window at the back of the room, with crowed bookshelves that lined the walls. The gang lined up horizontally in the front of his desk, as he turned to face them.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Yen Sid," the stern, elderly man stated.

"You're the Yen Sid who taught the king how to do magic, and presented him with the Star Seeker keyblade upon graduation," Thomas bragged.

"I do not know how you came to be aware of that information, but indeed I am," Yen Sid held back his smile.

"Why are we here?" Corey asked, but Sid raised his hand yet again to stop the talking.

"Save the questions for later," Sid commanded as Corey retreated.

"First let me say that the only reason you guys are here, is because the lot of you were chosen by the keyblades," Yen Sid started to explain.

"Told you," Rachel whispered in Thomas' ear.

"Quiet," he responded.

"The keyblades are used to help defend our worlds from the heartless. There are no set shapes for heartless, as they come in different shapes and sizes, but the only way to determine if it is a heartless, is to look for the heartless symbol somewhere on it's body. They are born from the darkness in people's hearts. The stronger the darkness, the stronger the heartless. They only live to gather hearts from the unsuspecting population, and are rather drawn to the power of the keyblades," Sid explained, and so far everyone understood exactly what was happening. Sid cleared his throat and continued,

"Please be aware that there are other worlds out there that the heartless are attacking. The only way to travel between them is either the use of magic or the transportation provided by a gummi ship. When you travel to other worlds, be on the look out for a special item, seal, or event that will allow you to seal off the world from the heartless. Although I cannot not stress enough not to interfere under any circumstances!" Sid stressed causing everyone to be nervous around him now.

"So are you going to use your magic to teleport us to a different world?" Rachel asked.

"Yes," Sid answered, "but only once. Then it is your job to supply the gummi ship."

"How? We don't have much munny on us," Manikha wondered.

""That is also your job to figure out. Now since no one has any questions," Sid started even though he knew they had a lot of questions to ask. Yen Sid raised his hand to the sky, "Radiant Garden!" he shouted. They all vanished from his sight to their new destination.

Preview for chapter Five:

The arrive at their new destination and things are not what they seem. First things first, they have to get a ship.


	5. Quest Begins!

Author note: Sorry, I originally had this all planned out, but the moment I went to put it on paper, it vanished. So this isn't as good as I first had planned. Also don't forget to review after you read. I value your input. Also check out an amazing story by Roxas17 called The Darkside of Firendship, or don't, it is completely up to you.

**Chapter 5: Quest Begin!**

The gang arrived at Radiant Garden, or at least that's what they thought. After all, that is what Yen Sid shouted right before they disappeared. They looked around and were impressed with what they saw. The streets were lined with buildings and decorated with kiosks. People were walking from shop to shop without a care in the world. The street was filled with the voices of all the people.

"Where are we?" Corey asked.

"It appears that we're in some strange market place. Probably in Radiant Garden, if that is the name of the place that old geezer sent us," Rachel told him.

"That could always be the name of the spell," Manikha pointed out, but Rachel shot her a dirty look.

"What cute moogles," Courtney sighed as she saw they teddy bear like creatures that were floating around the kiosk stands.

"You're not going to kick them are you?" Thomas questioned her.

"No I am not going to kick them. What do you think I am, some sort of future cute animal serial killer?" she responded.

"No, just wondering," he defended.

"My my, what do we have here?" a strange duck wearing the top of a suit and a top-hat waddled towards them. "Visitors, I presume."

"I guess you can say that," Corey answered him.

"Well, it's not a surprise that you haven't visited my stand yet. It's quite popular with the locals you know," the duck told them.

"Who are you?" Rachel asked him.

"I am Scrooge McDuck, owner of the giant freezer over there," he pointed with his walking stick.

"What is a rich duck like you selling ice cream for?" Manikha asked trying to sound intelligent.

"I am merely sharing my favorite flavor of ice cream for a small price," he confessed.

"What kind of flavor is it, if you can't find it anywhere else?" Thomas asked out of boredom and curiosity.

"It is sea salt ice cream," the duck answered with a grin on his face.

"Sounds disgusting," Courtney held back a barf.

"That is where you'll be wrong lassie. It is the perfect balance of flavor," he tried to persuade her. "Well since you guys are new to the area, I'll give each of you a bar on the house. What do ya say?"

"Alright!" Corey, Rachel, and Manikha cheered.

"Count me out," Thomas sighed as he shook his head. "I'm not in an ice cream eating mood."

"I don't do sweets," Courtney warned.

"Ah, but you don't know what you're missing," the duck tried to convince her.

"I am well aware, and don't particularly care," Courtney confessed as she walked off to the nearest moogle. Scrooge went to his freezer and fetched the ice cream and quickly waddled back. He handed them to the three and watched them like a hawk as they took their first lick. He saw their faces light up as the flavor danced and practically had an orgy on their tongues.

"This is amazing," Corey complimented before starting to eat the ice cream again.

"It has a perfect balance of sour and sweet taste," Rachel bragged.

"It's okay," Manikha said disdainfully.

"Oh, you don't like anything," Thomas scolded.

"Not my fault everything sucks," Manikha defended. Everyone stood there eating there ice cream as Thomas looked around. He saw some strange shadow moving across the ground, but it wouldn't stay in one place long enough for him to get a good look. The others watched him as he moved his head around, and they were wondering what he was looking at. I guess what he was doing seemed kind of crazy from the view point of others.

"Gotcha!" Thomas cheered as he slammed the tip of his keyblade at the shadow next to his foot (remember that they can bring them out and put them away randomly).

"What did you get?" Rachel asked while looking at him like he was crazy.

"Spider," he lied while he nervously chuckled.

"I don't believe that," Manikha said as she saw smoke coming from the tip of the blade that was still on the ground.

"You know how much I hate those things," he told her.

"I don't think keyblades are suppose to be used for killing spiders," Corey commented.

"Sure," Thomas sighed. More shadows started tracing around the street, but this time, everyone noticed it. Scrooge disappeared from sight, obviously he knew what they were and he went to go hide. The people who noticed them screamed and started to run around in a panic.

"I don't think those things are good," Courtney pointed out as she returned to the group. The shadows just stopped in place where they were, which at first seemed like it was a good thing, but then they poked their antennas out the shadows and that's where things went bad. Soon afterward bright yellow eyes opened up. The gang quickly drew out their keyblades and prepared to fight. Heads stared emerging until the whole body was out. There were countless shadow heartless, and they were slowly making their way to the keybladers.

"Why are they coming towards us?" Manikha asked.

"Hmm, I don't know, maybe it's the fact that they are drawn to the power of the keyblade," Corey answered her in a sarcastic tone. Just then, a whole row of heartless was wiped out, leaving hearts to float in their place.

"What just happened?" Rachel asked, shocked. The weapon flew back, like a boomerang, into the hand of the thrower. The owner was a young girl, probably no older than fifteen. She had short black hair, with a lighter black bandanna on her forehead. She had black short-shorts on, along with a black tee missing the mid-drift part and a matching black vest. She even had gray converse that covered most of her legs that were already being covered by long black socks that went above her knee.

"Look, our savior!" a random woman called out.

"Could it be?" another guy in the crowd asked.

"Of course, it's the great ninja Yuffie!" Yuffie shouted as she did her Final Fantasy Seven victory pose.

"Watch out!" Courtney called out to her, as she swung at the heartless at was going to attack her from behind.

"Thanks," she thankfully sighed, knowing what would have happened if she was attacked.

"You save the poses for _after _the battle!" the blond-tipped girl informed her. She nodded and went back to attacking the heartless with kunais and shurikens as everyone else started swinging their blades. Several ass-kicking minutes later, all the heartless were gone.

"Our hero!" A woman cried out after the event.

"There is no depth to our gratitude!" another woman cried out.

"Thank you, thank you. You'll be receiving a bill in the mail for our services," Yuffie jokingly yet seriously told them.

"Oh no they won't!" Rachel shouted as she hit Yuffie on the back of her head with her keyblade.

"Thanks for your help everyone!" Yuffie thanked them with a bow.

"No problem," Corey acknowledged, "it is kind of our job to defeat those things."

"I find it strange though," Yuffie muttered, "I thought all of the people who could use the keyblades were gone."

"What do you mean?" Thomas asked.

"Well, I'm not the right person to explain it, but I know someone who can," Yuffie told them with a little bit of hesitation in her voice. She let out a deep sigh, she knew she was getting in way over her head. "Just follow me," she commanded them. They all started to walk with her but Corey turned and noticed that Thomas wasn't following.

"Come on Thomas, what the hold up?" he asked as he ran over to him.

"There's something I want to check out," the spiky head muttered without taking his eyes off of the location he was staring at. Corey turned his attention to the area Thomas was looking at but didn't see anything.

"Are you okay," the shaggy head asked.

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you guys later. Down the stairs into the burrow, first house right?" Thomas started to mumble with his words becoming illegible.

"Sure, just be quick okay?" Corey told him but he just started to walk off without a word.

"Where are you taking us to?" Manikha inquired.

"I still want to know why the sky is raining glitter," Rachel stated.

"Well I'm taking you to meet the Hollow Bastion restoration committee, and as for the rain I don't know either. After the city under went a name change, it just started to rain and never stopped," Yuffie explained as best as she could.

"It hard to believe a simple name change could cause a weather phenomenon like that," Corey told her in disbelief.

"Here we are," she brushed off the comment and pointed at the first (and only) house that was directly below the stairs.

"This is the great hideout?" Courtney questioned.

"This doesn't look all that great," Manikha sighed.

"I guess that's what makes it a perfect hideout," Rachel tried to say cheerfully. They walked in and couldn't believe how small and cramped the house was. There were random shelves of books on random parts of the wall, not to mention an out of place book on a strange podium. The walls looked like they were made out of wood, just like the floor was. On the left side of the house, there was a coffee table on a strange orange rug. On one side was a love seat with a girl dressed in pink sitting on it sipping tea. On the opposite side was a regular sofa with a guy dressed in blue drinking tea as well. While on the right side of the house, there was a giant computer that took up a wall by itself, with a blond hair guy fighting with an old guy in a blue robe in front of it.

"Leon, I have some people who you'll probably want to meet," Yuffie announced much to everyone's embarrassment. The brunette hair man got off the couch and walked over to the strange group that had enter the house.

"What sort of riff-raff did you bring with you this time?" he asked her.

"Why I never," the wind user gasped and stated in a southern accent and slapped Leon across the face.

"They're keyblade users," Yuffie sighed as she knew she probably should have stated that first.

"Keyblade users, huh," he said as he looked at the strange group. "How did they all find each other?"

"Well, it a long complicated story," the fire user told him.

"We have time," the girl in pink smiled as she walked over to them. "Oh dear, it seems that your adventure clothes are not as lavish as your friends, allow me to fix that."

"Thanks," the fire user smiled.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the area where the market place met the uninhabited area, Thomas stood face to face with a man in a black robe.

"Why are you following me?" the spiky head asked him.

"I am not following you. We only met here by mere coincidence," the robed figure told him.

"Really, now? Then what brings you here?"

"I am searching for someone; it has nothing to do with you."

"Well I thought you might be after me considering the fact that you tried to take my keyblade away from me earlier."

"Sorry about that. You reminded of that someone I am looking for, and I was making sure you were not just another creation."

"Creation? I don't understand."

"It doesn't matter, you don't have to."

"Well then, I guess I'll be going."

"Wait!" the robe figure said as he grabbed his arm. Thomas turned back as the man in the robe brought down his hood.

"My name is Roxas, and the person I am looking for is like a brother to me. Well, more like a twin brother," the blond explained. Thomas studied his face, making him uncomfortable.

"You kinda look like this kid Sora I know," the raven head mentioned.

"Sora!" the blond spiky head panicked, "Do you know where he is?"

"No, haven't seen him since he found a strange note in the water with the king's seal," the black spiky head confessed.

"Well thank you for your time," Roxas thanked as he threw a strange multi-colored block at Thomas. He turned to face the cliff and he vanished.

"That was the strangest conversation I ever had," Thomas thought to himself as he started to walk back to meet his friends. He walked through the market place and came across the a strange woman with long black hair, a black skirt, and a black sleeveless shirt. She had an apron on for no apparent reason.

"Excuse me, may I ask you a question?" she asked Thomas, catching him completely off guard.

"Sure, how can I help you?" he asked her.

"Have you seen a person with blond hair and wearing all black around here?"

"Yes I have. Actually I just finished talking to someone who meets that description," he confessed.

"Really?" she said as her smile lit up her face. "What did he say to you?"

"He told me that he was looking for a certain someone," he told her without the mention of names.

"Sounds like him," she sighed. "Well, thank you for your time."

"It was no problem, really," the spiky head smiled.

"Why don't you come with me," the lady told him. "Oh by the way, I'm Tifa."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Thomas," he stuck out his hand to be properly introduced.

Preview for chapter 6:

The group receives the best news they could have possibly received, but it is a double edge sword. The good news is they found a way to get ship, the bad news is, they don't have the money for it.


	6. Random Violence!

Please review after you read, even if it is to leave negative feed back. Also please be aware that it is a short chapter and the Corey abuse that is about to take place.

**Chapter 6: Random Violence!**

"I see. Quite the predicament that you were just thrown into," Leon commented after hearing the stories from the struggling travelers.

"The worst part is we don't have much munny either," Manikha regretfully informed them.

"That is quite troublesome considering gummi ships are expensive and hard to make," Yuffie told them with a heavy sigh.

"Although one thing I haven't figured out yet is: why the heartless drop random amounts of munny," Rachel wondered.

"You're not the only one who hasn't figure it out yet, but you can surly make a profit fighting them," the worst ninja ever, cheered.

"Yeah it is going to take a whole lot of heartless to afford a decent ship," Courtney mentioned causing everyone to sigh.

"Well you can always do odd jobs around the town for people. They usually pay a decent amount," Leon mentioned as he started to zone out of the conversation.

"I know this is completely off topic, but what are Merlin and Cid constantly fighting about on the computer?" Rachel asked out of interest.

"The claymore upgrade," Leonheart answered.

"What are claymores?" the girl who embodied pink like no one else asked.

"Have you seen those strange mechanical gray spheres around town?" the ninja asked.

"No we haven't," responded the girl with the blond in her hair.

"Well they are used to help combat the heartless and the nobodies," Squall informed them.

"Who or what are nobodies?" Manikha asked. Just before anyone could answer, the door was sent flying across the room, crashing into the wall.

"You know Tifa, knocking also works," the spike-head commented as he and the woman with long black hair walked through.

"I know, but this is more fun," she confessed with a huge smile on her face. The guy with the blond hair, siting on the chair in front of the computer turned around.

"Damnit!" he said in some strange southern accent, "that is the fifth time this week I have to replace that door!"

"With a simple spell, I can replace it," the white-beard man bragged.

"Not everything requires magic! Technology can fix just about anything!" Cid argued with him.

"Magic is better and stronger than your technology!" Merlin argued backed.

"Knock it off!" Tifa commanded as she slammed both heads into each other. Everyone just ignored the random act of violence and continued on with the conversation.

"So Thomas, do you need me to introduce you to everyone here? Although your friends are already here so you might have met them," Tifa asked him.

"No I haven't met them, but I know who they are," Thomas answered in a smartass-like way.

"Really, how?" Yuffie questioned with a look of arrogance on her face.

"Well this room is filled with legendary people," he smugly told her, which shut her up.

"This should be interesting," Leon thought to himself, "Go ahead and tell us what you know." Thomas looked around the room, wondering where to start. Since Leon was the first one to catch his attention, he decided it was best to start from there.

"Well, they guy with all the straps, buckles, and zippers in Squall Leonheart. He changed his name to Leon to distract him from his past," Thomas started.

"How could he possibly know all that?" Squall pondered.

"Then of course you have Merlin, the most powerful wizard of all time. If you don't know who he is, then you must have been living under a rock," was next to come out of Thomas' mouth.

"Well I'm not all that great," Merlin smiled at the mention. All of the keybladers hung their head in shame because they didn't know who he was until they were introduced by Yuffie.

"Finally, the most important person of all, Cid Highwind. Legendary ship right, heir to airship craftsmanship, skilled mechanic and designers of the gummi ships," Thomas bragged on.

"Well, this kid is all right," Cid laughed as he put the kid under his arm and gave him a noogie.

"Wow, you sure know a lot," Tifa complimented.

"Well you know what they say, knowledge is power," the spiky head finally broke free, "and I like power."

"Well, that all nice and all, but where did you disappear to?" Rachel questioned.

"Something grabbed my attention," he told her flat out.

"What could it possibly be?" Manikha wondered.

"Well he did talk to Cloud," Tifa mentioned as she crossed her arms.

"You ditched us for a cloud?" Courtney asked now enraged and about to jump off the couch.

"Speaking of clouds, where did Corey go?" he asked them changing the subject.

"He went into a back room with Aerith, but don't change to subject," Rachel informed him.

"I left because I saw this," he said as he pulled out a strange multi-colored block from his pocket. Cid's eyes sparkled when they saw this black.

"Where did you get this gummi block?" he questioned with excitement.

"I found it, but more importantly, why are you wearing an old man sash?" the spiky head asked in return, causing Cid to get back into serious mode.

"You have a problem with my sash punk?" Cid asked getting ready to go into battle mode.

"No it's just that I know someone about my age who uses three swords and has green hair. I just thought it was some sort of fad. That's all," the punk stated, defending himself.

"Is that all?" Cid asked, slowly seeping back into his excitement for the block.

"Yeah, but what's so important about this block?"

"Well it's the rarest navigation gummi block known to exist. No ship could ever get lost if they have this block," Cid ranted. "Forget buying a new ship, I'm going to build you guys one myself!"

"For free?" Manikha asked with excitement

"Hell no! I'll give you a discount, but I still need money!" Cid scolded her.

"Doesn't matter; I'm still excited!" Thomas stated but did not express it.

"What is with all the commotion out here for?" Corey asked as he and Aerith came out of the back room. It seems that Corey was sporting a new look. He had dark gray pants with three pink rings at the bottom of the left leg. Obviously a mark so Corey won't forget who got him the new dreads. He shirt was replaced by a white one, while the over shirt was replaced with a short sleeve grey one, except for some reason, on Corey's shirt had the emblem of the heartless crossed out (Think of the no smoking sign).

"Oh, so that's what you were doing?" Thomas asked with a hint of surprise on his voice.

"What did you think they were doing? Naughty stuff?" Rachel asked as she got up.

"Please, like he could ever get me," Aerith smiled, admiring her work.

"I think you'll be lucky to get me," Corey corrected her.

"In your dreams," Courtney told him.

"Not even there," Manikha added. Corey shot her a mean look.

"Besides, I have a boyfriend, so I'm taken," Aerith informed everyone.

"An imaginary one," Corey said as an innocent joke. Aerith smiled with a look of malice on her face, which sent a chill down everyone's spine. In a blink of the eye, she pulled out a bo-staff out of the blue and knocked Corey to the ground. She raised it up and brought it down repeatedly, beating him because he took the joke too far.

"You stupid male chauvinistic pig!" she started to go on a feminist rampage.

"That's going too far," Leon shouted trying to stop her. He walked over to her side, trying to grab her hand to try to slow her down, but he met the same fate as Corey.

"I should probably mention that her boyfriend, Zack, is in another world fighting a war that has Aerith constantly worried about him, and even the slightest hint, intentional or not, about his death will set her off," Tifa informed the group.

"That is some useful information," Courtney smiled as Aerith continued to beat Corey and Leon senseless.

"So I guess imaginary counts as dead, huh," Thomas sighed. Rachel, Yuffie, and Manikha couldn't help but laugh at the situation Corey and Leon were in. Meanwhile Cid was with Merlin on the computer starting to design the ship. After the beating, the elementals were shoved out the door by Yuffie who told them to "go make some money!".

Preview for Chapter Seven:

Making money isn't as easy as expected. When they said odd jobs, they meant it.


	7. Odd Jobs!

Author's note: Sorry for the short chapter (I think this might be the shortest of them all), but I think this might be needed. At first I was thinking of skipping over the odd jobs. After all, they really don't deserve their own chapter. Then I thought I might as well put it in since some people might want to know what sort of jobs there are to do around Radiant Gardens. So enjoy, and PLEASE REVIEW AFTER YOU READ!

**Chapter 7: Odd Jobs!**

Back in the busy marketplace of Radiant Gardens, we join our heroes staring at the bulletin board hoping to find a part time job to pay for the airship that Cid was building just for them.

"Tifa said we could find jobs on this bulletin board, but this is ridiculous," Thomas complained.

"There is something seriously wrong with this town," Corey commented.

"I think some of the stuff on here might be illegal," Courtney grimaced.

"They do seem sort of fun," Rachel said, looking on the bright side.

"The pay isn't all that appealing," Manikha sighed.

"As I said before, you don't like anything," Thomas told Manikha, who smiled a little at the comment.

"By the way, did we ever get an estimate from Cid on the ship?" Corey questioned the group.

"Nope, but he did have a huge smile when he said a lot," Rachel answered.

"Well I say we just pick a job and hope for the best," Courtney sighed. As they gazed upon the board, none of the job postings appeared to spark their interest, but considering it was for a ship, they had no choice.

**Bee Bustin'**

**50 Munny**

Lately there have been bees in the alleyway next to my shop. Normally I wouldn't mind but they're driving away my customers. I need someone to destroy them and their nest so my business would come back.

**Safe Cracker**

**100 Munny **

I forgot the combination to my safe, and I need someone with a sharp sense of hearing to help crack it open.

**Trash Takeout **

**78 Munny**

Lately I have been forgetting to take out the trash around my neighborhood. I need someone to help me load it up on my truck and drive it to the junkyard.

**Paper Delivery**

**27 Munny**

The paper delivery boy is out and I need someone to fill in for him.

This was just a list of the most normal ones that were on there. Manikha asked them how did they know if the jobs were taken or not, but Corey kindly explained to her that you rip off the ad from the board and take it to the person who posted it. They all took a few of them off and agreed to meet back here in the evening to pull there money together and see how much they made. They parted ways, and hoped that by some sheer miracle they could pull enough together to make a deal with Cid.

Later that day, well technically it was late in the evening, they all met at the board again, tired and scarred after the hard day's work. They all just collapsed and lied on the ground, trying to catch their breaths. A few minutes had passed and they were able to sit upright and talk to each other about what they just faced.

"So many bees," Corey said with a little fear in his voice as he slowly rocked back and forth.

"There were so many papers, no wonder the paper boy was out. If I were him, I would be too," Rachel cried a little.

"At least you didn't see what these people throw out in their trash!" Manikha snapped.

"I shouldn't have taken that, then the 'photo shoot'. There were some pictures that are going to scar me for life," Thomas complained as he copied Corey in the rocking motion.

"What kind of pictures were they?" everyone asked at the same time.

"I don't want to talk about it," he informed them.

"Well at least I had fun," Courtney beamed as she knew she picked the right jobs.

"Yeah, you got to crack safes for the snobby rich people who are too stupid to remember a three digit code," Manikha snapped again.

"Well, at least it's all over. Let's just pull our money together before we kill each other," Corey said, as he tried to calm everybody down.

"Too late!" Courtney cried out as she leaped from the spot she was sitting in and started to strangle Manikha.

"Calm down!" Thomas told her as he started to pull Courtney off with the help of Rachel.

"We need her at the moment," Corey reminded her as he tried to break Manikha free. They struggled to pull the two of them apart when Aerith appeared before them.

"You guys seem tired, why don't you come by for some food and rest?" she offered. They all stood up like nothing happened and followed her back to Merlin's house.

"This is good food," Corey complimented as he was shoveling it down with the rest of his friends. They were sitting around a table with an assortments of food; since it was free, there was really no point in complaining.

"I'm glad you guys like it. Eat up, there's plenty for everyone," she told them with a look of shock on her face. Sure she is used to seeing people eating like this, but it's still surprising to see.

"Hey, where is everyone?" Thomas asked as he looked around and saw that no one was around.

"Oh, they already turned in for the night. Working on the ship really took it out of them. I only stayed up to make sure you guys were fed and safe," she told them with a smile on their face.

"We're sorry to be a bother," Courtney apologized.

"Oh no, it's no trouble, really," she smiled on.

"Are you sure?" Rachel questioned as she suspected otherwise.

"Positive. After all, you guys are a break; you're nothing compared to Sora," Aerith chuckled.

"You make him sound like some sort of monster," Manikha commented while barely eating. This is the reason she is like a twig.

"When it came too food it, he is," she confessed but smiled proudly. Everyone continued to eat in silence until there was no more food left. After helping her clear the table, washing and putting away the dishes, she took them to a door Merlin had created and showed them to their rooms. Since Merlin didn't have much magic left in him that day, there was only two rooms available. One for the guys, and the other for the girls. You can tell who got the lucky break.

"Sleep well, you'll be getting your ship in the morning," Aerith told them.

Chapter Eight Preview:

The gang gets their ship and start their adventure at last.


	8. Heading Off!

Author's note: Thanks to all of you who have been reviewing and reading. It makes me feel special and good about myself. Here comes the bad news, I've been getting a lot of complaints about Corey's clothing (which makes me happy because people are reading). Since I am not good at designing costumes, as of today please submit to me your design for Corey. In a few chapters I will announce the winner and his official outfit will be changed. So go wild and enjoy this latest chapter.

**Chapter 8: Heading Off!**

Aerith awoke everyone early that morning with delicious aroma that filled the air. Since their new friends would be leaving today, she thought that she should do something special for them. She cooked a full course breakfast. Although I have no idea what one of them has, it sounds pretty special to me, but that is not important right now. After breakfast was over, Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie took the kids and headed out to the restoration site.

"So how much did you kids end up making?" Cid asked curiously with a huge grin on his face.

"We barely scratched six thousand," Corey confessed with a huge sigh.

"Wow that is a lot to make in one day just doing random jobs," Yuffie laughed as they shot her the eyes of death.

"Most of it came from me though," Thomas informed them with a shudder.

"Oh my, what did you do?" Aerith asked her.

"We don't know, but apparently it scarred him for life," Rachel pointed out.

"Well it doesn't matter, you can just make payments," Cid laughed.

"How much is the ship going to cost?" they all asked at the same time.

"You'll see when we get there," Cid told them.

"You're a jerk!" Courtney scolded.

"Well even I have to make a living," he scolded back.

"Well, we're just thankful for the ship," Manikha said trying to be the voice of reason.

"Don't try to be reasonable Manikha, that's my role in this group," Thomas got after her.

"Well then what do I do then?" she questioned him.

"That has yet to be determined at this point," Corey reminded her. She frowned at the 'friendly' reminder as they continued to walk. After walking past broken buildings, construction material and machines, and even broken land structures, they came across a clearing with a giant white sheet over what seemed to be their ship.

"Well there she is," Cid pointed out at the giant sheet that covered the ship.

"Wow, do they make sheets that big?" Rachel asked in amazement.

"Apparently, but where do you find them?" Manikha responded with a question of her own.

"I guess they can just make them," Courtney shared with the others. Yuffie walked over to the sheet and placed her hand on one of the corners.

"I now present," she started but was cut off by her own scream.

"What is that thing?" Corey asked as he saw a giant hand wrapped around her body.

"Its arm isn't connected to anything!" Thomas pointed out. Aerith let out a huge scream.

"That same arm that grabbed Yuffie now has Aerith!" Rachel panicked.

"No it's the opposite arm!" Courtney noticed.

"What is it connected to?" Manikha asked as she looked around.

Slowly she turned around and saw two shining, silver legs that were not connected to the dark sliver body that floated above it. Although, she did know that it was being controlled by the head that barely floated above the body.

"This heartless is a Guard Armor!" Cid told them. They all nodded and brought out their keyblades.

"Any idea of how to fight it?" the red head asked, tightening the grip on her blade.

"No idea, but why don't we ask our leader," the dark spiky head answered.

"Well it seems that we have to free those two at least," the blond-tipped hair girl mentioned as the captured girl screamed once again.

"Well?" the pink girl asked.

"Well Thomas what do you have?" the leader (which is obviously Corey) asked.

"I say we each take a separate part of the body out," he stated. "Although I am not too sure if we're strong enough."

"Well we just have to try. Besides, if we stay here and continue talking, it might be deadly," the leader informed them. They split up and saw how huge the heartless actually was.

"Yevon, you guys are useless," the Blondie complained. "I'll help you guys out, just this once." From out of nowhere, apparently all the Fantasy warriors can do this without explanation, Cid pulled out a long rod with a very sharp sphere at the end. The whole thing was pure silver and shinned in morning sun. "This brings back memories!"

"Whoa that thing is huge," Corey gasped at the length of his weapon.

"That's what she said," Rachel giggled in the background. Meanwhile, Thomas was rushing towards the heartless along with Courtney and Manikha.

"Let's destroy this leg first!" he ordered with them nodding in agreement. They raised their blades and each of them struck in a different area.

"It looks like that didn't have any effect!" Manikha pointed out.

"Of course it did, we pissed it off," Courtney corrected her. The fiend looked down at the people who were attacking its leg. Thomas and Courtney slyly pointed to Manikha and backed off a little. This was enough time apparently because a huge explosion came from it right arm.

"My hero," Aerith compliment as Corey caught her from the free fall.

"What power," Thomas gasped as he realized that they didn't even leave a dent.

"I am not as young as I used to be," Cid panted after his attack.

"You're amazing Cid!" Courtney cheered.

"Guys, that thing is still there," the red headed reminded them.

"Right," her team answered as they assumed their battle positions.

"Don't forget that I still need to be saved!" Yuffie cried out to them.

"Well if we leave her, we might be doing the world a favor," Courtney suggested with EVERYONE nodding in agreement.

"Damnit!" Thomas sighed.

"What's wrong?" Manikha asked him, as she already figured out what it was.

"My gentlemanly code won't allow me to let women get hurt in my presence," he sighed.

"Then don't look," she told him.

"Everyone! Let's all attack the same leg at the same time," Corey ordered. His team looked at him.

"As Thomas pointed out, even though the body isn't physically connected, it's still connected," he did his best to explain.

"That means we can cause it to fall, then attack it while it's down," the pink girl elaborated.

"What a lucky day this is, Manikha understood something," Courtney chuckled.

"We can celebrate this huge achievement later. Right now, let's finish the heartless," the spiky head commanded. They turned around to face their enemy but saw an explosion come from its other arm.

"While you guys were busy discussing battle plan, I took action," Cid told them as he dropped Yuffie on the ground.

"Thank you for saving me," she thanked them, "unlike some people."

"It's no problem, anything for a former party member," Blondie told her.

"Okay, now leave everything to us," Corey told him.

"I was planning to," Cid playfully told them. Corey smiled and they walked over to the fiend. The thing was pissed off at them, but had no arms to attack them with. Since it did have a brain however, it was smart enough to know it can still use its feet. It raised one of its legs high enough to stop on them.

"Now!" the command was shouted. Rachel and Manikha struck the leg with everything they had. It caused the creature to become unbalanced.

"Let's get the chest Corey!" Thomas instructed as they jumped. They manage to hit the chest and finally knocked the creature over.

"Sorry you won't get another chance to fight us," the blond-tipped hair girl told it as she smashed the head with her keyblade. In a puff of smoke the fiend vanished as a medium sized heart slowly floated towards the sky.

"Curaga!" Aerith called out as she held out her hands. The party glowed white for a few seconds and diminished when they were fully healed.

"Not bad for a bunch of brats," Cid complimented.

"Thanks old man," Thomas thanked with a thumbs-up.

"That sure was exciting," Aerith smiled as she placed a hand on her chest. "My heart is still racing."

"Well now it's time for the ship," Yuffie cut in. They could tell she was in a bad mood. Right now, she was probably more annoying than her happy self.

"Oh yes," Cid smiled, almost forgetting. "Yuffie, if you'll do the honors." She huffed as she pulled the sheet off the ship. It revealed a dark-blue ship that was shaped like a phoenix, although it seemed to be the size of a large pick up truck.

"Introducing the Phoenix Highwind. Made from some of the rarest gummi blocks around. It can travel on land, in the air, and even in the ocean. You can get from world to world fast than any other gummi ship out there. Highly indestructible and it's easy to up keep, so amateurs like you can manage repairs. Although it looks small on the outside, the inside will be able to meet all of your needs. To name a few features, it has weapons to blast enemy ships, each of you guys have your own room, and a screen to contact me, or vice versa, at anytime," Cid explained until he was red in the face.

"Really, that's amazing," Rachel cheered.

"That is quite a ship; can't wait to get inside," Corey beamed with excitement.

"Alrighty, I don't have to deal with you people during the whole voyage," Courtney smirked.

"This should be an interesting journey," Manikha added.

"How much?" Thomas questioned Cid.

"Actually little buddy," Cid smiled as he grabbed the spiky head in a choke hold, "I am giving it to you."

"You're giving it to me?" he asked, trying to break free of the impending noogie.

"Of course, you knew talent when you see it, unlike your ungrateful friends."

"What is the condition?"

"The only condition is to take good care of it, and to call me sensei from now on."

"Sure no.......Sensei?"

"Yes, I never had an apprentice," Cid started to monologue so everyone tuned him out. It seemed that the sensei remark made Thomas' friends laugh.

"Well thanks for the ship sensei," Thomas thanked as he took the keys and headed off for the ship.

"Bye!" Yuffie waved.

"Have a safe journey," Aerith called out to them.

"I sure hope they know how to fly and pilot it," Cid thought as he led the women back to the house.

"Wow there really is a lot of room in here," Thomas commented as he sat in the pilot seat. There was a flicker on the screen, and two woodland creatures appeared. "Corey this is your territory!" Corey walked over with a confused look on his face.

"Hello there passengers. I'm Chip and this is my brother Dale," he pointed to the woodland creature in the party shirt, "and we're the mechanics of this ship."

"Our mechanics are squirrels?" Thomas asked.

"They look like woodchucks," Rachel commented as she walked over.

"They don't have long enough tails," Manikha pointed out.

"Well Corey should know," Courtney informed them from across the cockpit.

"I know, they're chipmunks," Corey told them.

"That's right," Dale told them in a care-free almost high (the illegal kind) voice.

"We're here to make repairs, but first we have to tell you about traveling," Chip told them.

"What is so complicated about flying?" they asked.

"Well while traveling to other worlds, the heartless are flying ships as well," Chip started.

"Heartless fly ships?" Manikha questioned with mass confusion.

"Maybe, they just might be ship-shaped heartless," Chip continued.

"Just blow them up and you'll be fine," Dale told them.

"Works for me," Thomas smiled, "you?"

"It sure does," Corey answered as he took the co-pilot seat.

"Okay, then. Also be on the look out for gummi blocks that they drop. The ship will automatically collect them so it shouldn't distract you," Chip informed them.

"Is there anything important you want to tell us?" Rachel inquired.

"Let's see, you can talk to us via this screen, everything else is pretty self explanatory. This ship is powered by smiles, and there a special button to contact Cid," Dale went over. The gang wasn't paying attention so they just nodded like they understood what they were saying.

"Safe travels," the chipmunks told them as they flickered off screen. With the turn of a key and the press of the button, the heroes took off into the sky.

Preview for Chapter 9:

The group arrives at their first world and sees a girl getting kidnapped. Now they face the complications of getting involved even though they were told not to.


	9. Olympus Coliseum!

Author note: Thank you everyone for the reviews, they really made my crappy day way better. So far, for the design Corey's outfit contest, I only got one entry and it was for Manikha's clothing, I don't know how that worked out, considering she is not Corey. Well please enjoy this chapter.

**Heroes Arc**

**Chapter 9: Olympus Coliseum!**

After Thomas finally learned how to successfully pilot the ship, the trip didn't seem as long, or life threating. They even reached the first world safely in a matter of hours, if you don't count the close to crashing, landing. When they got off the ship, it just disappeared out of sight, and they had no idea of where it went. They looked around and were stunned by what they saw. They entered from a massive gate and were in a small, but open space. In front of them were two golden statues of warriors with swords crossed in battle. Behind the battle was a towering door that was nothing compared to the size of the building.

"Where are we?" Manikha was the first one to ask.

"I think were at the Olympus Coliseum," Corey answered her.

"What makes you think that?" she inquired of his sudden knowledge.

"Well it written right there," he pointed to the arch way above the door. Manikha squinted and could barely make out the words.

"Well now that is all settled, what exactly are we suppose to do here?" it was Courtney's turn to ask.

"Not sure," the ever-knowing leader answered.

"I guess we just fight heartless and look for the world's seal," Thomas informed them.

"What is the world's seal?" they asked him.

"I'm not too sure, but I remember being told that each world has a seal that protects it from the return of the heartless," he carefully answered.

"Where would we find something like that?" Rachel questioned.

"Not sure, I don't even know what they look like," he told her truthfully. They sound of a door creaking caught their attention. A small half man, half goat like creature emerged with an angry look in his eyes.

"Hey the coliseum is not open yet!" he hollered at them. "We just finished the repair and I don't want you brats ruining it before the opening ceremony!"

"Were not here to destroy the coliseum," Corey reassured him.

"Then what are you here for exactly?" the angry goat man questioned.

"Were sight seeing," Rachel quickly answered.

"Well you seen enough, now get out of here!" he ordered.

"We can't leave yet!" Thomas shouted at him, which caused the goat man to take a double take.

"Why not, your not wanted here!" the stocky man continued to shout in anger.

"Well..." Thomas started but couldn't think of anything on the top of the head.

"There with me," a female voice called out to the angry goat. The goat man turned around to see who the voice belonged to. A tall and lean woman emerged from out of the blue. She had a long dark pink, almost purple roman dress, that hung just above her feet. She had long brown hair that was tied in a pony-tail like style. "So Phil, please just go to the lobby and finish up."

"Okay," Phil answered, knowing that he was being lied to. "Just don't do anything crazy."

"Of course not," everyone answered at the same time, which caused Phil to worry a little. They wait until Phil left back to the building and closed the doors before they started to talk again.

"My name is Megara, but everyone around here calls me Meg," she introduced herself and everyone followed suit. "Your clothing are different, your not from around here are you?"

"No not exactly," Corey answered her, speaking for the group.

"Well I can tell that you guys are good people," she smiled and turned her attention to Thomas. "You remind me of a certain spiky headed boy."

"Thank you," he told her with a nervous smile. "I was wondering if you can help us out."

"Sure thing, what is it?" she asked. Corey cleared his voice.

"Were looking for the seal of this world, and were wondering if you know where it is," Corey informed her.

"I am not sure what was used to seal this world. Sorry I can't be of much help," she regretfully told them.

"It's okay," Courtney cheered her up. "All it means is that we have to look."

"Yes, so it's no problem," Manikha mentioned.

"It's not that, it's Hercules I am worried about," she completely turned the conversation around in order to pass the story along.

"Is this Hercules in any kind of trouble?" Corey asked in an aggravated tone since the conversation was flipped on them.

"I wouldn't say trouble per say," she started as she walked over to a conveniently place bench and sat down with everyone following suit. "It just that, he been doing nothing but fighting against the fiends Hades sends in the Underdome and he been fighting one right after another and he needs a break," she monologued.

"That does sound like a problem, but isn't he suppose to be like some legendary hero?" Manikha asked.

"I thought Hunk-cules was a god," Rachel mentioned.

"He has some god like powers, but he human as well. If he keeps this up, he will surely die," she told them as she was working up to a panic.

"Well all he has to do is take a break and rest a little," Corey mentioned like it wasn't thought of.

"I pleaded with him to take a break, but his pride won't allow it, this is worst than last time," she started to tear up.

"Well then, we will just go down there and take his place. Force him to take a break if we have to," Thomas started to boast.

"That won't work, he will keep it up until he dies! The only way is to get Hades to give him a break," she explained.

"Well then, we'll just go down to the underworld and pay this Hades a visit," Courtney smiled with an evil grin.

"I couldn't possibly ask you to do such a thing. After all, there are heartless running amok in the underworld," she hesitated to take their offer.

"Don't worry about us," Thomas told her in a cheerful tone. "We have keyblades so heartless are nothing to us."

"Oh thank you, you guys are the greatest!" She cheered as she hugged Manikha who was sitting besides her.

Meg did a good job informing them of the terrors of the underworld. After all, humans usually try and stay away from it. When asked about why she knew so much, she passed the question off and pretended like she didn't hear it.

"Meg there you are," a strong and demanding voice said which got everyone's attention. "I've been looking every where for you." A tall, well built guy came close, but not near the group. He was wearing a golden brown chest plate with matching skirt. He had a flowing, light blue cape that hung just above his waist. His sandals and wrist bands, matched the brown attire he was wearing. What really stood out was his bright, redish-orange hair that was almost in a mullet style. Meg face went pale as if she has seen a ghost.

"He doesn't look tired at all," Manikha kindly pointed out to her in a faint whisper.

"What the matter Meg, you look sick. Why don't you come over here so I can get a better look?" he asked, trying to coax her.

"No, I just feel faint, I am jut going to sit here for a bit," she told him.

"If you want to check to see if she is sickly, why don't you come over here," Rachel told him.

"The lighting is better over here," he told her with a simple smile on his face.

"It the same everywhere," Courtney pointed out to him in an aggravated tone.

"Meg," the spiky-headed kid looked at her and she nodded.

"Don't you trust me?" Hercules asked in a soft and caring tone, which sounded almost fake.

"How could you treat a woman in such a way?" Thomas shouted as he swung his keyblade. Hercules took a few steps back to avoid the attack.

"Thomas what are you doing? the leader questioned.

"Don't worry about it, just trust me," he answered.

"Why did you swing at me?" the hero asked the kid who just attacked.

"I felt like it," he answered back with a smirk.

"Don't make me hurt you," the hero warned.

"I'll like to see you try!" Thomas invited. Hercules' eyes went narrow with a hint of rage and threw a punch. "It seems like the legendary hero's punch should have a little more power behind it," the raven head said as he protected himself with his keyblade.

"I'm holding back my power," the hero lied.

"What a shame," the opposer sighed. He ducked under the arm and got a direct hit on the hero. Hercules fell back into a puff of smoke. It quickly dissipated revealing a small, fat, light purple demon with two short horns and a long thin tail. "I thought I sensed something fishy was going on here."

"It doesn't matter that you caused me to reveal my true self. I already got what I came after," he laughed.

"What did you come here for?" the leader intimidated the small demon with his own keyblade.

"Hades sent me and Panic to fetch the girl," he cried. Everyone turned their attention to the area Meg was. Somehow in the midst of the short battle, she was gone.

"When did this happen?" Manikha wondered as she was the closes one to Meg.

"You guys aren't clever enough to outsmart the great Hades," the demon mocked as he vanished.

"This isn't good," Rachel mentioned as she started to pace.

"We only dropped our guard for a second," Courtney pouted.

"Well look on the bright side," Thomas told them as he tried to raise everyone's morale.

"Which is?" the leader asked him.

"We were going to pay a visit to Hades anyways, might as well get Meg back while were at it," he shared his thought. Everyone agreed that it was a good idea, even if it came from Thomas.

Preview for chapter ten:  
Once in the Underworld, the gang takes the direct path to Hades, but with all the heartless around, it seems that he may have plan for them.


	10. Don't Step in the Leadership!

Author note: Please review after you read, they make me happy. Also for the contest of Corey's new outfit, I think I didn't execute it properly. After all, everyone who has submitted an entry did it for everyone but Corey. That wasn't the point of it. So does that mean everyone likes Corey's outfit? Also I am not the best with writing fighting scenes and the likes, so please forgive me.

**Chapter 10: Don't Step in the Leadership!**

"Let's go!" Corey ordered and almost everyone followed.

"Stop! We can't!" Thomas shouted out to them with much sorrow in his voice.

"What the hell is your problem?" Courtney asked him.

"Remember, we were strictly told to not get involved with events in other worlds," he reminded them. They all looked down and realized that he was right in some weird way.

"That ship has long sailed," Manikha told him.

"Well we do have to stay out though," Rachel commented. It was as a divine intervention kicked in, as a loud and long scream was head coming out of an entrance to a cave.

"Well, I guess doing the complete opposite won't hurt," Thomas sighed as his gentlemanly duties kicked in. Everyone smiled at his words and ran towards the entrance to go save Meg. They rushed in and saw that it was dark with an eerie glow that filled the room. There was a giant lake that started in the center and stretch far back to the point where no once could see where it ended. The surface they stood on was flat ground that was surrounded by jagged rocks. A few feet ahead of them stood a desk and a blackboard with strange writing on it. On either side of the out of place objects, was a path that lead up to a dark entrance. Behind the desk was a small, two person, row boat, and behind that was some black rock, dome shape building.

"So this is the underworld?" Corey commented.

"Strange," the spiky headed kid mentioned.

"I always expected a lot of fire," the pink fiend added.

"Isn't there suppose to be different levels?" the hot headed woman asked aloud.

"You're thinking of a worse place," Courtney told her. They didn't have much time to take in and 'enjoy' the scenery, considering that hundreds of bats soon filled the area.

"Bats are usually harmless, so they won't attack us, unless," Corey started as the bats lowered themselves to the group.

"Unless they're heartless," Manikha finished Corey's sentence as she was being bitten by a bat in the shoulder.

"That should take care of that," the blond-tipped girl said as she released a small discharge of lighting.

"Thanks," Pinky said as a heart floated into the sky.

"Well guys, let's take care of them," Corey ordered as they all drew their keyblades. The bats dived down from the air. The gang started to hack and slash to protect themselves from the oncoming onslaught.

…

"What do you want with me Hades?" Meg shouted her question at him. She grabbed the bars of her cage that hung above a glowing pool of green water. A soft moan could be heard coming form the waves that crashed upon the rocks. On the other side of the room was a single chair, a throne if you would. In front was a table with a chess board and several strangely shaped figures on top of it. One could only guess it was Hercules, the keybladers, and Hades own creatures. Not far from these two things, was a small pool like cauldron that rose from the ground. It was also filled with the strange green water with five dolls standing next to it.

"I just require your assistance, that is all," he told her with much aloofness as possible.

"Like I would help you," she sneered.

"Like you have a choice," he sneered just as hard back.

"Those kids will stop you," Meg whispered under her breath, but made it loud enough to make sure that Hades' ears caught a muffled sounds.

"What was that!" he shouted as his hair turned red. In a puff of black smoke he appeared in front of the cage.

"Don't mind little ol' me," Meg softened her voice and started to fan herself.

"Well then I shall be going," he told her in a confused manner.

"Wait," she called out to him as he turned back to face her. "You know, I always admire your plans," she flirted as her fingers walked up his chest and bopped his nose. Hades' blue skin went to a soft pink. Meg knew she had him right where she wanted.

"Well it's simple my dear," he started as he rushed back to his chest board. "You see, I keep sending creature after creature to fight Hercules non stop. Keep in mind that each one is stronger than the next. He keeps on fighting them, and he gets weaker as well. As for the kids, they are not used to this environment, so on their way here, it'll take its toll on them and they'll be weaker when they get her. Since they both want you, I'll throw them in the arena with Hercules along with you. Although Missy, you won't have your freedom. Your life will be in so much danger that they will fight to the death to save you. It will allow me to eliminate all threats against me," he monologued.

"You're disgusting," Meg gaged.

"Thank you, your too kind. Be nice, after all, you're the stone I need to kill the two annoying little birdies," the flamer laughed.

…

"What the," Corey gasped as he and his fellow teammates fell to the ground below them.

"I don't feel too good," Rachel panted.

"I want to die," Manikha cried.

"On the bright side, all the heartless are gone," Courtney reassured them.

"At what cost?" Thomas wondered. They lied there motionless for a couple of seconds before slowly sitting up. "I believe that the underworld is slowing sapping our strength away," he explained as he slowly regained his composure.

"Do you think our bodies will get used to it?" the bright girl asked.

"Hard to say," the red-head answered her.

"So what is the plan?" the other woman questioned.

"Well it would seem that we have to save up our strength to use it when we need to," the spiky head told them as he soon stood up. "It seems that my body is adjusted now."

"Mine too," Manikha said as she and the other got up as well.

"As I asked before, what is the plan?" Courtney asked expecting to be answered.

"Well we need to get to Hades to give Hercules a break and to probably rescue Meg," their leader started.

"That is a given," Rachel told him.

"Although, if Hercules need a break, we should probably go to the coliseum and lend him a hand," Corey continued.

"So are you suggesting we split up?" Rachel wondered.

"That seems to be the only option we have," he responded with some confusion in his voice.

"Come on Manikha let's go," Thomas commanded as he started to head towards the boat.

"What a drag," she commented.

"Where are you going?" the dirty haired boy questioned them.

"You said we were going to split up," Thomas said with an innocent smile.

"And we already figured out how you were going to split us up," Manikha continued with the thought.

"So we thought that we would save you the trouble of speaking," Thomas finished as they climbed into the row boat.

"Wait," the leader called out, "that's not how I was..."

"Save it," the pink girl told him.

"It's okay, we're going," the spiky hair kid sighed as they started to row towards the building in the middle of the lake.

"So they're right about how you were going to split us up, aren't they?" Rachel jokingly asked.

"It was, but they didn't have to act that way," Corey sighed.

"Whatever, we should probably just continue on with what we were doing," Courtney informed them. They started to run down the path on the right that led to a giant set of double doors.

Team Corey, which is comprised of Corey, Rachel, and Courtney, rushed through the doors and entered a strange room. There green water, flowed like a river through it on one side, while a rocky path followed right next to it. There were jagged rocks that stuck out of the ground right next to the river.

"So I guess all we have to do is follow this path to get to Hades' chamber," Corey told them.

"This seems easy," Rachel smiled. "Too easy."

"Move out of the way!" Courtney yelled as she jump to her side. Corey saw a blue glow and jump out of the way. Rachel was confused by what was happened. A shining blue orb landed near Rachel's feet causing an explosion and for her to fall over.

"What just happened?" Rachel asked struggling to get up.

"We were attacked," Corey told her as he quickly rose to his feet.

"You mean were being attacked!" Courtney commented as more blue orbs were flying towards them.

"I can't get up," Rachel cried which got the other two's attention. They noticed that Rachel's feet were planted in the ground by a block of ice. The orbs flew past them and exploded on impact. They turned to see the damage the attacks caused and saw blocks of ice were the attacks have landed.

"Ice," echoed through everyone's mind. Slowly they turned their head to see the attackers, and there they were, more heartless. Although, these seem more colorful than the ones that they have encountered before. They had bright orange hats, almost like the ones that are put on scare crows, or like a witches hat, maybe like a black mage one. They had black spheres for heads with two glowing yellow eyes, and a dark blue cloak. They were small,and floated in mid-air, so it seems that these foes will not be so easy to take on.

"I count about a hundred of you scumbags, and I'll take each and everyone of you on," Courtney told them with excitement in her voice.

…

"Hurry up!" Thomas shouted at Manikha as he was rushing towards the door. Manikha had trouble standing up in the row boat which made it hard for her to get out.

"What are we doing here again?" she asked as she finally escaped. He ignored the question and rushed into the door. Manikha was right behind him. When the entered they were a bit terrified at what they saw. At one end of the stadium was Hercules, holding a sword and pointing at his opponent. The battle must not be going as planned, after all, he was pinned against the wall. Facing him, was a huge dragon body, with five different colored heads (the necks are included) emerging and smelling Hercules from a few feet away. Thomas drew out his blade.

"Come on Manikha, we have to help him," he mentioned.

"Fine," she sighed. She drew out her blade, which took a few seconds to manifest. It seems that she either didn't want to fight, or was too scared to. With a heavy sigh she jumped into the air. Somehow the laws of physics didn't apply to her as she flew into the air and headed towards the dragon hydra knock off creature.

"Wait!" Hercules and Thomas both cried out at the same time.

With a powerful swing, she sliced off the blue dragon length and sent it crashing to the floor.

"That was easier than I thought," she commented with a smirk on her face. The remaining dragon heads screeched as the rose back into the air.

"Why did you do that?' Hercules asked her with a bit of anger hinted in his voice.

"Yeah Manikha, there was probably a reason why he didn't slash off its heads," the spiky headed kid told her.

"What makes you say that?" she questioned Thomas' motives. All he did was point in the area behind them. There, laid about a dozen severed heads that all seemed to come from the dragon.

"It is able to regenerate its missing heads if it needs to," the hero informed them.

"I screwed up didn't I?" she wondered but knew the answer. The dragon roared as a new head shot up from the area that had just been attacked.

…

"There not many left," Corey informed his team as he was hacking through a few more. Light blues orbs still flew threw the air, but this time, it was at a faster rate.

"This blows," Courtney cried out as she was hit by one of the attacks.

"At least you are not spending the battle stuck to the floor." Courtney looked to see what she was talking about. Rachel's feet weren't the only things covered by ice. In fact, both of her arms were now frozen to the ground. Courtney sighed, at least she was better off than Rachel. Sure she was frozen from the waist down, but if any enemy floated past her, she could still do some serious damage.

"A little help here Corey!" the both cried out to him. He turned to see what their problem was, but what he saw was his friends covered in ice. This time, it was Corey's turn to sigh. He put his hands together. They were glowing bright red as he pushed them forward. He shot two fire balls, one at each of his friends, freeing them from their icy prison.

"Now that I'm free, time to get my revenge," Courtney evilly smirked. She retrieved her keyblade off the floor and put it in her hand.

"Corey, I think we should get out of here," Rachel told him.

"Good idea," he agreed with her as they both distance themselves from the threat that is Courtney. A strange yellow glow surrounded Courtney. The heartless seemed to slowly inch back. She raised her keyblade and pointed it to the ceiling. In a flash of lightning, she was on the other side of the room with her arm and keyblade as far as possible from her body. A second pasted before each heartless was hit with a slash and destroyed.

"How many hits did you get in?" Corey asked as he rushed over, ignoring the hearts floating into the sky.

"There were only twenty-three left, so about that much," she figured.

"Really?" Rachel questioned, "I only saw eight."

"Well I'm afraid your eyesight is better than mine, I only saw the flashes of light," their leader confessed. Courtney shook her head and walked off.

"Way to keep them guessing," Rachel approved as she and Corey caught up with their friend.

"Well, we should probably make sure we conserve our strength until we need it," Corey instructed them.

…

"Watch out!" the hero announced as he grabbed Manikha. They managed to jump out of the way just as three heads went in for the kill.

"You've got to be careful!" Thomas shouted at her.

"You're telling me," she sighed as Hercules put her on her feet.

"What do we do? If we slice off the heads they grow back, but if we don't stop it now, it will kill us now," the hero went over in his head.

"Poor Hercules, he must be dead tired," Manikha thought to herself. "Just looking at the bags under his eyes makes me feel bad." The dragon raised all of it's heads as high as it could get them. It pointed them where they all would face the same way, almost like it was planning something by itself.

"There must be a way to stop it from regenerating its missing limbs," they all thought at the same time.

"Hey Hercules!" Thomas called out, after all, they were on opposite sides of the room.

"What do you want kid? I'm thinking right now!" he responded.

"What if we just impale it? Wouldn't that stop it regrowing its heads?" Thomas shared his thought with them.

"How would we do that?" Manikha asked.

"She's right to ask; there's nothing here to impale with," he told the male.

"As long as you can bring the heads to lay right on the ground, you can leave the rest to me," the spiky hair kid explained, then winked at the end of the sentence.

"I see what he is getting at," Manikha understood.

"What is going on? Am I missing something?" the red head inquired.

"Not now, let's just do what he said. After all, it's the only plan we have," she smiled at him.

Manikha jumped from the conversation and rushed towards the dragon. The heads were still plotting so they didn't pay attention to her. Who could blame them. She used her keyblade and repeatedly slash it across the knee, which apparently, still did nothing.

"Even useless as a distraction," Thomas sighed in his head.

"Hey ugly! Dinner is down here!" she shouted at the beast. With a sneer of its nose, the yellow head lowered itself down so Manikha was eye level. She prepared to defend herself if necessary. It opened up it's big mouth, about to eat her.

"Get out of the way!" Hercules commanded as he fell from the sky. She managed to jump out of the way just in time. Hercules acted like a spear as he shot himself at the yellow head. He managed to crash it to the ground, leaving a small crater.

"Now it's your turn to get out of the way!" Thomas shouted from the top of the dome. He pointed his keyblade at the dragon. Hercules looked up and could barely make out the boy or his blade which had an orange aura around it. "Terra Impalement!" he called out. A small rumble could be felt from underneath the fiend. Then out of the ground, five huge pointed rocks shot out and stabbed through the head. A green liquid leaked out and it seemed to have the same ominous glow as the lake. The other four heads roared and prepared to attack Hercules.

"Think you can handle four at once Mr. Hero?" Manikha questioned as she slowly inched away from the raging beast.

"Leave it to me!" he boasted. "Just make sure your friend does the impaling fast enough."

"Don't worry about him," she told him as she left the battle completely. The hero looked over at her and saw that she was safe. He smirked as he turned to face the beast. (Okay, let's do a complete run down on the dragon. This is something I should have done earlier, but I figured now is as good a time as any. The dragon has two legs, which it stands on. A long tail with a huge body. The whole dragon is black with a dark gray underbelly/chest. It has five heads, each a different color. In order from the far left to the far right is: Red, green, white (leading one), yellow and blue. At first each head was suppose to have a different abilities but that was removed.) First was the blue head to attack. He jumped out of the way and landed on the head. As it raised itself to meet the others, it looked around searching for the enemy that was just in front of it. Hercules jumped and grabbed the head by its whiskers. While free falling, he brought the head down. Just as he released, spikes emerged from the ground impaling the second head. With a couple of it's heads stuck in the ground, the others had to lower themselves so it wouldn't be too much of a strain. The fatigue in the hero was showing as it was hard for him to continue. He was running up the dragon's tail, keeping out of sight from the other heads.

"We have to end this soon, I don't think Hercules would last much longer," Thomas was thinking as the rock he was standing on started to crumble. The hero, now at the space in between the red and green head.

"Come on, just a little bit more," Manikha gasped as Hercules was about to give out. The hero jump and grabbed the two heads by the whiskers as well. Sure it was repetitive, but you can't argue with what works. As he pulled them to the ground, his hands slipped, letting the heads free. Thomas had to react fast in order to impale the newly brought down heads. As they were pierced, the green liquid started to pour down the necks. The hero fell down to his hands and knees and started to pant. He wasn't able to keep this up. The final head saw an opening and took it. The head lunged itself at the fresh piece of meat that was presenting itself. With one swipe of her blade, Manikha managed to guide the head away from Hercules. Manikha dismissed her keyblade and grabbed the tired hero. The head launched it self again and Manikha barely managed to get out of its way.

"You're much heavier than you look," she complained in a joking manner.

"I could say the same about you," he yawned back at her. Spikes, much larger than the ones before came out of the ground and pierced the last head. Using this moment, Thomas jumped off the rock he was standing on just as it crumbled beneath him. He maneuvered himself so he could get right above the fallen beast. He figured he should fully destroy it now before it gets its second wind. He threw his blade with what remaining strength he had left.

"Hit the mark!" was all that he could shout that would fit the moment. It landed in the middle of the dragon, causing it to explode upon impact. Green water and slime splashed all across the stadium. Hercules caught Thomas right before he hit the ground.

"You really do put the _glad _ in gladiator don't you Hercules?" Thomas cheerfully smiled as he was carefully put on the ground. Hercules sat down on the ground trying to catch his breath.

"As long as that battle doesn't get replicated," Manikha went along.

"Is he strong?" Thomas asked with a songful tone.

"There's no one braver," was the response she gave.

"Is he sweet?" the song continued.

"Our favorite flavor," she answered.

"Where did you hear that song?" the hero asked. A second later, his eyes closed and fell backwards.

"Idiot. Get some rest. Whatever comes along next, we will take care of it," Thomas reassured the sleeping hero.

"I guess Meg got what she wanted in a weird way," Manikha commented.

Preview for chapter eleven:

The only way to free the capture Meg and to keep Hades entertained is with a tournament. This chapter was suppose to be the set up, but I dragged it on too long.


	11. Hades Cup!

A.N. First I want to welcome back my beta, this story would be lost without her. Second, I know this story has been going on for a long time already, but it is ending within the next few chapter. In an attempt to reduce the story a bit, I am cutting some parts while merging with others. After our heroes leave this world, they were supposed to go to Atlantica, but seeing how each story kept dragging on, I cut it out. I want this story to still be good and be able to hold your attention and your interest. So please Read and review. I value your input.

**Chapter 11: Hades Cup**

Team Corey raced down the endless tunnel. Rachel figured by following the river Styx, it would lead them to Hades, or at least his chamber. Using this as their only lead they continued along their ways in hopes of freeing Meg, and by some sheer miracle, have Hades give Hercules a break.

"I see a light up ahead! We must be close!" Rachel pointed out.

"What is that noise? It sounds like a soft pitch moaning," Courtney wondered. She looked at her two friends to see if they noticed it. They walked into the light and arrived into a room that had a blue glow to it, with the exception of a small green glow that came from the main body of the river.

"Is this Hades' chamber?" Corey asked looking around. In the room, they saw a big, black throne, against the back wall. In front of it was was a table with a chessboard. In the middle was a cauldron with green liquid. It must be what he uses to watch his enemies movements. There were a lot of strange oddities in the room. Hades even had Meg in a cage, hanging above the lake. Although, the weirdest thing of all, were the dolls that were sitting upon the cauldron.

"Kids, what are you guys doing here?" Meg called out to them. They rushed over to her.

"We're here to set you free," Corey responded.

"Also to kick Hades' ass if we have too," Courtney added gleefully.

"No you must leave, it's a trap," she warned them.

"You mean this whole thing was a set up from the beginning?" Rachel asked.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "Get out of here and save yourselves."

"We can't do that," Corey told her. "We have to help you, otherwise who knows what will happen."

"I know what will happen," boomed a voice. In a puff of black smoke Hades made his grand entrance. "I will eliminate you all!"

"Let Meg go!" Corey demanded.

"Oh I plan to, after she serves her purpose," he mocked.

"You're a monster, what are you planning?" Rachel demanded the answer from him.

"Get rid of the six of you annoying brats. After all, you guys keep getting in my way!" Hades informed them.

"Six of us? Do you know how to count genius?" Courtney questioned. Hades held up his fingers.

"Well the five keyblades users, which are here in my room," he counted on his fingers. "Plus one annoying hero, that makes six."

"No, what I am talking about, is that there are only three of us here," Courtney correct him. Hades looked around and his hair turned red with anger.

"WHERE ARE THE OTHER TWO BRATS?" he questioned them with rage. The kids were too intimidated to answer. Corey was the first one to muster up the courage.

"They are with Hercules," he gulped as he answered.

"No, that will ruin my plan. I have to eliminate the lot of you in on sweep," he muttered to himself.

"Sure you can do that, but it'll be boring," Rachel told him.

"How do you figure?" he asked her.

"Where is she going with this?" The other two asked themselves.

"Well since you're an all powerful God, I am sure you can get rid of us without any effort," she started to explain.

"That is true, but I still don't see where you're going with this," he confessed.

"Well it would be boring. After all, if you have no one to oppose you, what are you going to do with your sudden free time?" She continued.

"I understand, but get to the point already," he told her.

"Well, you have a coliseum, why not let us use it to fight for our lives?" Rachel suggested.

"I see, I can pit you against some of my strongest warriors. Watching you guys struggle would provide for really good entertainment," Hades shared his thought.

"Of course, but there has to be stakes," Corey expanded.

"It wouldn't be a tournament without high risk ends," Hades chuckled.

"Well if we beat your warriors, we each get a chance to take you on so you can free Meg and leave Hercules alone," Courtney suggested.

"I see, what do I get if you guys lose?" he asked.

"Well I guess we can retire our keyblades," she told him.

"That's a start, but you guys also have to work for me. In other words, your hearts and souls belong to me," he informed them.

"Well," Courtney and Rachel muttered as they glanced at their leader.

"It's a deal," Corey told Hades as he stuck out his hand. They shook on the arrangement. Next thing everyone knew they were in the coliseum.

"What are you guys doing here?" Manikha asked as she ran over to her friends that just arrived in a puff of black smoke.

"I think the question is, what happened here?" Corey responded as he saw all the green slime that colored the arena. Hades snapped his fingers and sighed. The battlefield was fixed and cleaned, just like nothing happened at all. He turned his attention to the sleeping hero.

"Is wonder boy over there dead?" he asked the two teens that were here with him.

"As long as you have no follow up question, yes," the spiky head teen told him.

"Well whatever, I bet you're wondering what we're all doing here," he started to tell Manikha and Thomas.

"Not really," the pink girl told him coldly.

"Not even a little?" he inquired.

"Nope," she told him.

"Well fine, you get to go first then Missy."

"Gladly." Hades sneered at her and puffed out of the arena. He reappeared in the stands on a fancy chair that was probably meant only for him. After all, it was in the perfect place to watch people suffer and struggle fighting for survival. Meanwhile, the group ran to the stands on the opposite side of Hades. Who know, they might even cheer Manikha on, although, that might not happen. With another snap of his hand, five cloaked figures appeared along the wall of where Hades was sitting. There only wearing black robes that hides their identities so there is no reason for me to go describing them, yet. Manikha stood alone on the platform like stage, just waiting to see who she will be facing. It seems that we didn't give her enough credit, but she figured everything out as it was happening so there was no need for it to be explained to.

"Do your worse," Manikha coaxed Hades on.

"Sorry, you can't handle my worse, but I have to perfect one for you," he told her.

"Oh, is that so?" she inquired.

"Kimahri, take her out," he ordered. A roar could be heard from one of the cloaked figures as he jumped and landed on the stage. A blue hand came out of the arm hole and grabbed the neck area of the robe. With a mighty swing he revealed himself. There he stood, towering over the girl. He was had dark blue skin. A lion like face with a broken horn in the middle of his forehead. His outfit consists mostly of a dark brown loin cloth that hung down to his knees, with light brown straps around his lower legs, arms, and chest. Who knows what purpose all of those straps served, other than hanging his spear on his back.

"What are you?" she questioned. Kimahri just grunted in response without a real answer. Manikha gulped and called out her keyblade.

"BEGIN!" Hades ordered with a lot of excitement in his voice. Kimahri not taking any chances against Manikha jumped high in the air and pulled out his spear. It was almost as long as his body. It was pure silver with a very sharp blades that was about a quarter of the size of the whole weapon. He rapidly spun it above his head. Frozen with fear and uncertainty, Manikha was unable to move and think of a way to counter. He held the weapon to his body, with the spear pointing down, as he quickly made his decent. With a big crash, Kimahri landed on the right where Manikha was. Lucky for her, she managed to dodge the attack at the last minute. When the dust and the smoke cleared, a huge crater had formed where the beast had landed.

"I would have been done for if that hit," Manikha pointed out.

"Lancet," the beast growled. With an unknown force, Manikha was knocked back a few inches and a small orb emitted from her body. Lazily, it floated to Kimahri and inserted his body.

"What was that?" she questioned herself.

"I see you use water. Kimahri disappointed," the beast told her.

"What do you care about what I use to fight with?" she questioned.

"Water are always the weakest," he told her matter-of-factly. Manikha glared at him for the comment and pointed her blade at him.

"Shining aqua illusion," she stated as she started to shoot out a stream of bubbles that struck Kimahri. He took the attack head on, and it was apparent that it did little to no damage on him. When Manikha called off her attack, she had no idea what else she would use. Although she knew her water power could be strong, she had not practice with it at all. Sure she could have gone in the training room of their ship and practiced along with everyone else, but she blew it off. Now she really was regretting it, after all, it was a matter of life and death now.

"Aqua breath," Kimahri called out at shot the same attack Manikha used on him, except this time it came out of his mouth. Manikha was too surprised, she didn't dodge in time and took the attack head on. The force of it, was enough to send her flying a few feet back.

"I'm water, you'll have to do much better than that!" she taunted.

"You fought bravely, but I have to end it," the Ronso informed her. Her eyes widened; what was he planning? For some reason she was paralyzed with fear and couldn't mutter a word.

"Ultimo," he commanded. A dark ring formed around Manikha's feet. Within seconds she was enveloped into a pitch black sphere. In a heart beat, a blood curling scream could be heard coming from the void.

"What is going on?" Thomas asked, being a little freaked out.

"What kind of attack is that?" the leader wondered as he probably sent one of his friends to their death.

"It's one of the most powerful attacks out there," Rachel, who seemed to know everything about the unknown randomness informed them.

"She really is useless," Courtney thought to herself while watching the battle. When the darkness faded, all that could be seen was a worn out girl who was covered in cuts and bruises. Kimahri walked away proudly walked away as his opponent slowly collapsed to the ground.

"Manikha!" everyone shouted with concern. Rachel was the first one to react. She rushed onto the stage and by her side. Of course she is going to be there to help her, after all, they were like cousins. (Granted being a cousin isn't that strong of a bond, but there sort of an inside reference in here.)

"Looks like we have our next victim," Hades chuckled as Rachel noticed she was the only one on the arena. "Franny, would you do the honors?"

"I would be delighted," a light female voice answered. A black robed figured jumped on to the arena and towered in front of Rachel. "Shame I have to deal with such a weak girl."

"I'm not so weak that I'll lose to you," Rachel sneered at her.

"Well then, this should be fun," the woman giggled as she pulled out a hand and placed it on her shoulder.

"Can you give me a minute to get Manikha off the stage?" Rachel inquired.

"No, I will attack the moment your back is turned. After all, the battle started the moment I walked onto the stage," she informed her. Rachel let out a huge sigh. She held out her hand and called out her keyblade. "Another keyblade user. You guys really have no originality," the mysterious girl commented.

"Like you're one to talk. A black robe just screams original," the red headed girl taunted. With a swing of her hand, the girl who has been dubbed "Franny" removed her cloak, revealing a woman who strangely resembled a playboy bunny. Basically she had a black leather one piece suit on with a huge hole that showed her stomach. Black leather stilettos, with leather strapping around her legs, with a flimsy black leather sweatshirt that barley covered anything except her arms. Her hair was long and white that barley reach the middle of her black, and I forgot to mention the black leather helmet with her pure white rabbit ears sticking out.

"Oh great, a bondage freak," Rachel thought to herself as she was preparing for battle. Fran pulled out a bow from her back and loaded it with an arrow. Where she was pulling out the weapon and shots, have yet to remain a mystery. With a pull of the string, she started to rapidly shoot arrows. Rachel managed to dodge and block each of them with ease. It was as if she was being toyed with.

"So normal arrows are easy for you, but what if they were charged with magic?" the bunny smirked which alarmed the red head of danger.

Rachel ran over at the woman before she was able to draw an arrow. She wildly swung her keyblade (remember, the teens have little to no fighting skills at this point in time). Fran slowly started to step back, dodging most of the blows. The ones that did make contacts however, just grazed off of Fran like no one's business.

"Useless woman!" Fran shouted as she swung her blow to stop the opposing girl's blade. A loud snap echoed throughout the stadium as Fran's bow broke in half from the force of Rachel's key.

"Not as useless as you think," Rachel casually mentioned.

"No," Fran stated as she recovered and stuck her palm out, "even more then what I think." Rachel looked confused as to what would happen next. After all, she is using her hand, so that could only mean one thing, magic. "Fire," was whispered by the playboy and a fire ball shot out of the palm. Barley making it out of the way, Rachel fell onto the floor in order to avoid the attack, although the on sought didn't end there. The barrage continued and it took a lot for the feisty red head to avoid one right after another without any recovery time. Fran placed her other palm next to the hand that was in use.

"Try my fira," she offered. Another fire ball was shot out of Fran's hands, the only difference between attacks, was that this one was almost three times as big as her fire spell.

"I can't dodge this," Rachel thought to herself as the attack enclosed. "unless!" The fire ball was pushed back, allowing Rachel to escape any damage that she may receive.

"What did you do?" the playboy asked, with fear and rage in her voice.

"I pushed your spell back with my wind!" Rachel explained liked it was simple physics.

"You witch! So if fire won't work, I'll try ice. Blizzard!"Fran desperately called out. A strong gust of cold wind and snow blew at Rachel from her hands, but a strong wind pushed it back and disperse it.

"Your wind cannot stop this! Thunder!" Fran screamed. A bolt of lighting shot down and she was proven right. Rachel's wind could not stop the lighting. Within a flash of light, Rachel was stuck down and brought to her knees. "You were a fool to challenge me," she taunted.

"You have no right to talk!" Rachel warned her as she slowly rose to her feet. "I can still fight, the match isn't over!"

"Yes it is my dear. You should just give up now while I'm feeling generous," Fran chuckled.

"Don't be so condescending you..."

"Multi-thundaga!" A barrage of stronger, more powerful, bolts of lighting shot down from the sky. Repeatedly striking Rachel, one right after another. A few seconds and countless bolts have passed and Rachel was down on her knees yet again, only this time, she was almost burnt to a crisp. Fran shook her head in disapproval and pulled out a small blade. She attacked it to her pinky finer and pulled it. A string was revealed that attached the blade to the ring part. She started to spin it and ran in Rachel's direction.

"Time to end it!" she warned as she finally reached the burnt teen. She was about to slash Rachel but the string broke, sending the blade into the air.

"That's enough Fran!" a stern male voice called out to her. She turned to see who it was, and it was none other than her partner in crime.

Preview for chapter 12:

Thomas and Courtney tag team the last set of Hades warriors for a chance at freedom, but when the mastermind reveals his method of controlling these warriors, it is up to an enraged Thomas to help them remember that they are human.

Additional Author note:

Sorry for posting this so late. Life got complicated and I haven't had much time to write. Although if you check out my profile, the other chapters are being written as well so expect an update pretty soon.


	12. Free Will!

Author Note: Sorry about the last chapter being so late. I had it for almost a month but I never worked on it. Please forgive me. I am also sorry about how the fights are turning out. I guess I am not that great of a writer, plus fights are hard, yet a lot of people make it look easy.

**Chapter 12: Free Will**

Announcer: In the last chapter, the fight for freedom started as Manikha faced the Ronso Kimahri. She was fairing pretty well until he used his ultimate attack, Untimo. Rachel, rushed to her friend side but was quickly engaged in a battle with Fran who mainly used magic. Enraged by the fact that the wind blocked most of her attacks, Fran resorted to using multiple thunder spells to stop Rachel in her tracks. When Fran rushed to finish the girl off, someone on the sideline ran interference.

"Mind your own business Balthier!" Fran called out as her blade landed on the ground, thus sparing Rachel's life.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," he responded to her as he stepped onto the stage. Somehow between stopping Fran's blade and sparing Rachel's life, hiscloak was removed to show who he was. He had short, dirty blond hair that was combed up, almost like spikes, with an earring in his left ear. He had weird armor plated boots that went over his black jeans. He had a holster for his gun on the left side of his body, while on the right was a pouch that was probably used for storing items. Then there was his gold plated vest, that he proudly wore over his white collar shirt. It seems like he was an actor out of a very bad play. "The battle over, leave it at that."

"Fine," Fran sighed in a manner that made it seem like she never had any fun. Using this brief moment of distraction, Thomas and Courtney pulled Rachel and Manikha out of the arena so they could rest up and heal their wounds.

"Which one of you is the leader?" Balthier questioned the group of keyblade users.

"Why would you like to know?" Thomas responded with a question of his own as he laid Manikha on the nearby bench.

"Well if I am going to fight, I want to do it, leading man to leading man," the actor explained as best as he could.

"What a joke," Courtney commented as she sat Rachel down next to Manikha.

"That would be me," Corey told the strange man who was looking down on them.

"Well get up here and let's begin. What do you say to that?" the actor coaxed Corey.

"Sound like it would be fun," the keyblade leader answered in response.

"No Corey, let me go," Thomas offered to be a replacement.

"Why should I do that?" he asked his eager friend.

"Well since you are the leader of our group, it only natural that you fight the strongest opponent," the spiky head kid explained to Corey. After all, it makes sense if you think about it.

"No can do, but thanks. After all, it is leading man to leading man, how could I refuse?" Corey argued.

"I somehow doubt he's the leading man," Courtney shared.

"Leave me alone, I have to do it this way," their leader informed them.

"Fine, die for all I care," Courtney told him with a serious tone in her voice.

"I'll be okay," he reassured her.

"Just remember, bullets hurt," Thomas told him.

"How is that supposed to encourage me?" Corey questioned the wisdom of his friend.

"Draw your weapon!" the leading man ordered Corey as he walked on the stage. He held out his hand and summoned his keyblade. Within seconds, the clink of metal clashing echoed throughout the stadium.

"What, you shot already?" the fire user asked.

"Of course I did," the actor told him as he started to fire more shots. Corey used his blade to block all the bullets he could see that were being shot at him. Although, this seemed impossible considering they were small and fast. "Well it seems that normal bullets won't work on you. How about I try these?"

"Try what?" Corey wondered. Not even a second passed when Corey felt a sharp pain in his left arm. "What did you do?"

"I switched to magic bullets," Balthier answered with a smug smile on his face. "They're like regular bullets, but are harder to see, and I am able to charge them with any magic spell I choose."

"Isn't that cheating some how?" the brown hair boy asked.

"Of course it is. I have a cheat code in place so I don't have to reload my bullets," the leading man humored Corey.

"What a funny man," Corey thought to himself in a sarcastic tone.

"Firaja bullets," the actor smiled as he gun began to glow red.

"Did he just add a 'ja" at the end of fire?" Thomas asked Courtney.

"Yeah he did. Why is there something wrong?"

"If it wasn't Corey, there would be."

"What do you mean?"

"One the hierarchy of magic, the 'ja' is the strongest. It's so few and far between, not many people are able to go that high."

"That does sound bad," Courtney stated with worry in her voice.

Corey had trouble dodging all the bullets that were flying his way. After all, they were charged with magic, so they moved a lot faster then he predicted. Although the weirdest thing he noticed, is that he could have sworn that he was hit a few times at least.

"I'm flaming," Corey noticed as he stopped for a brief moment to catch his breath.

"What are you?" Balthier asked with fear hinted in his voice.

"Indestructible," Corey taunted, hoping that he was.

"I doubt that!" the actor stated as he continued shooting his firaja bullets at Corey, who in turn stood there taking each and everyone.

"It seems that fire can power up my own. I better use this while I still can," Corey planned in his head.

"I better do something fast, otherwise this might turn ugly," the leading man thought as he noticed that his enemy was wrapped around in a flame aura. Using this lull to his advantage, Corey began to rush at the bad actor who opposed him. Not wanted to power him up any more, Balthier quickly switched his spell.

"Waterja bullets!" the leading man desperately shot at Corey. To busy ignoring the bullets that were being shot at him, after all, it seems like they would evaporate before they even reached him, Corey was preparing to attack. With all his might, he swung his blade with the addition of fire at the actor. Using his lighting fast reflexes though, Balthier counted with his gun that doubled as a club. The force of the attack was too strong as the leading man was knocked clear across the stage. Using the distance to his advantage though, Balthier continued shoot his bullets at Corey. With the fear of making contact too soon, the leading man ran around the stage with the flaming teen right behind him.

"Why does he keep shooting at me? His flames are making me stronger." Corey wondered as he was chasing the man. It must have looked strange seeing a man with a gun run away from someone.

"Good, it seems that he hasn't realized what I am doing yet," the actor smiled as he continued to shoot that the teen. From the spectators, it would seem that this game of cat and mouse was dragging on far longer than expected.

"Now die! Thundaja bullet!" Balthier shouted as he shot his gun.

"Your fire won't work on me!" Corey boasted, completely ignoring all the words that were mouthed. Soon it was as if he was stopped in his tracks, as Corey took the bullet head on and fell to his knees. "What did you do to me? My whole body went numb," the shaken leader inquired as he was struggling to get up.

"I used my strongest thunder spell to subdue you. Actually, I am surprised that you are still alive, but it won't be for long," the actor stated as he pointed his gun at Corey.

"I can't lose," echoed through out the fire user's head.

"Bio bullet!" Balthier shot Corey point blank in the chest.

"Corey don't get up!" Thomas called out to him as he rushed onto the stage.

"Don't interfere, he can still fight!" the leading man warned the teen who was acting as a shield.

"No I won't move. You plan to destroy him from the inside out using the poison form the bio spell. The match is already over, you won," Thomas defended.

"It seems that I have been mistaken of who the leading man is from your group. But I digress. After all, I am only allowed to fight once, so you luck out for now. If our paths ever cross again, we will fight," the leading man monologued before exiting the stage.

"You guys are a lot of fun. I am glad I thought of this tournament!" Hades ranted with excitement.

After taking Corey to the bench where Rachel and Manikha were, Thomas placed himself on the stage. He talked Courtney to join him up there, and Hades allowed a double match for the final round. After all, he said his remaining warriors, were by far the strongest ones he ever had.

"Show your self to our guest, Cloud and Auron!" Hades ordered. They two cloaked figures that opposed the remaining teens had no trouble taking off their clocks to reveal their true identities. The first one was an old man of sorts, well at least he looked that way. He had jet black hair, with streaks of gray running through, dark Ozzy Osborne like sunglasses. He was wearing a bright red kimono with the top part hanging from his waist to show his dark black vest, and arm bands that he only showed when is is in a fight. Not to mentioned he had black armored boots, and a armored glove in his sword hand. He was carrying a long katana. The other warrior, wasn't anything like the first. He had spiky blond hair, with blueish-green eyes that looked like they were gazing into the past. Has wearing all black consider the black boots with matching black gloves, the black pants, the skin-tight black shirt, and the spiky-black shoulder guard. The only color he had was his brown belt with matching brown suspenders. He weapon of choice was also a sword, but it was a long broad sword.

"Destroy those punk kids!" Hades ordered with Cloud and Auron nodding in agreement. The teens quickly drew their blades in hope they would be able to put up a fight.

"What speed," Thomas commented as Cloud appeared by his side. With a might sweep of his sword, he knocked down the spiky haired teen.

"Chain lighting!" Courtney said as lighting wrapped around Auron. The old man struggled and flexed, breaking the hold Courtney had on him and knocking her flat on her back. The two teens quickly got up only to realize it was a mistake.

"Get out of my way!" Auron shouted as he sent an attack at Cloud. The sheer force emitting from the attack was enough to knock the teens to the ground again.

"We can't take them one on one," the spiky head panted as he tried to get up.

"You're telling me. The shockwave alone was enough to put us in our place," the lesser blond mentioned.

"What should we do?' the otaku wondered as he finally made it onto his feet.

"Let's double team," the girl told him as she was finally planted on the ground. Thomas exhaled his breath and ran towards Auron. The proud warrior noticed the boy but didn't bother to retaliate. Thomas grappled him from behind and restrained the warriors arms. Courtney sighed and pointed her keyblade at Auron. She could probably paralyze with a bolt of lightning. She focused all of her energy at the tip of her blade, but her plan had one minor miscalculation, Cloud.

"I cannot allow you to do that," Cloud sighed as he kicked Courtney in the side. After all, he was a gentleman of sorts. Distracted by Courtney, Auron use this moment to flip Thomas over his back and slam him on the ground. Cloud hovered over the spiky hair boy body and just glared down at him.

"If you try that again, I'll slice you up," Auron who had his blade at Courtney's neck, warned. Hades appeared on the stage and started to laugh in a deep tone. Cloud and Auron walked over to his side ad the troubled teens sat motionlessly on the floor. They were screwed, big time. It was easy to see that these warriors were only toying with them at best.

"There is no way you can beat me!" Hades mocked as he laughed at the futile attempt that the teens made. "These guys sold themselves for power, money, personal reason that I do not care for. All that matters is that they belong to me. Heart, soul, memories, I have everything they hold dear. They are under my control and they will fill my orders to the letter." Hades rant seemed to spark some rage in Thomas, who was slowly clenching his fist. Courtney on the other hand, had a look of fear and disgust on her face. How could he do something like this?

"There's no way that they will follow your every word!" the male teen shouted.

"Oh, is that so?" Hades challenged. With a mighty spin, he did a complete 360, kicking Auron in the heading knocking him to the ground.

"They don't even fight back?" the lightning user wondered.

"No they don't. Now Auron..."

"Don't!" Thomas cried out.

"Lick the..."

"Stop!" Courtney cried in a desperate attempt to get Hades to stop whatever it was he had planned.

"Ground!"

"No!" the teens cried.

"Yes master," Auron muttered as he repositioned himself on the ground. With his face a few inches from the ground, he stuck out his tongue and like the ground like a dog.

"You monster!" Thomas shouted as he grabbed his keyblade and rushed towards Hades. Cloud appeared in front of his master and used his blade to send a few slashes to stop the teen in his place. The crazy teen blocked each of the slashes that were sent his way until he got pissed enough to throw his blade at Cloud. It hit and disarmed the dangerous man he was facing. Auron stood back up on his feet ready for his next order. Hades, who did not want to get caught in the fight, and to prolong his enjoyment, he took a few step backs to the edge of the arena to get a close up of the action.

Thomas reached out and grabbed Cloud's arm, but it was useless, considering he was punched in the head by the blond solider.

"Thomas!" Courtney cried out to her friend. As she sat there and watched, feeling useless since she couldn't help her friend out. She knew the moment she got up, Auron would be right on her, and not in the good way. Thomas shook off the blow he just received only to tighten his grip along with grabbing the other arm. Fearing the worst, Cloud kicked the retraining teen as hard as he could. A blow to the side would not even cause Thomas to loses his grip one bit, in fact, he re-stood hid ground to the point of where it was hard for Cloud to even budge an inch.

"What do you think you're doing?" Thomas shouted at Cloud, grabbing his and everyone's attention in the room. "What about the heart that you were born and raised with? Where did it go? There is no way he could ever that that away from you!"

Cloud's eyes started to widen a bit, or so Thomas noticed. He was striking somewhere close to home, so he was going to continue to see how far he could go with his little speech.

"A human has more freedom than this! You're not even treated anything like a human! When he sees you, all he sees is a weapon with no mind of his own! I don't care what he has told you, there no way he can take away your free will! He has you dazed and confused which allows him to manipulate you in anyway he chooses! There is no way he can ever take your heart or soul!" the teen continued his monologue. There was a huge chance that this string of sentence could make sense, but it seemed to work. Cloud slowly dropped his arms to his sides and stopped resisting all together.

"Shut that kid up!" Hades ordered as he knew something was amidst. Without any hesitation, Auron used the back of his blade to hit the teen in his stomach and sending him flying a few feet back.

"Finish them!" Hades commanded as rage token over his enjoyment.

"Bushido Meteor!" Auron attacked Coutney, knocking her off the stage and crashing into her recovering friends, while Cloud on the other hand did nothing.

"Why aren't you finishing him off Cloud?" Hades asked with his rage slowly building.

"I can't," was all that he could muster.

"Why not?" the flames on the god's head turned red.

"My body, it won't move," Cloud explained.

"Victory enough for me," was all that crossed the remaining teen's mind as he quickly got back up to his feet to try to ambush Hades while he had a chance. He called his keyblade back into his hand and he reached the god. He jumped up into the air and was about to strike the flaming target when the guy in the kimono countered his blade with his katana.

"What do you think you're doing?" Auron asked.

"I defeated my opponent and using my pass to attack Hades like the rules stated," Thomas tried to explain.

"Well normally that would be the case, but since this is a double battle, both of us have to be out. I'm still left, and I won't go down as easily as my friend did," the old guy stated.

"Fine, I guess I'll have to fight you too Mr. Bushido!" the spiky hair teen sighed as he knew he was heading for trouble.

Preview for chapter 13:

Thomas' fight with Auron is more trouble than he originally thought. Meanwhile, the teens who were so easily knocked out, sneak into the underground to set all the warriors free. Will their plan succeed, or will everything big too big of a gamble to risk?


	13. Mr Bushido!

Author's note: This might be the last update to this story for a while. School is starting up and I have to spend most of my attention to it. After all, it is my last year in high school and I got all of these college bound stuff that I really need to take care of. So I will do my best to update as much and as fast as I can.

After rereading through this, I am not too happy with how it came out, so I will come back to it and rewrite it when I get the chance.

**Chapter 13: Mr. Bushido!**

"Where am I?" a female voice asked. She looked around and saw that Thomas was currently on the stage fighting some guy in a red kimono. By the looks of it, the spiky hair teen could barely hold his own. She looked to either side of her and saw no one else. "Where are Rachel, Corey, and Courtney? They can't be gone. Did they already fight? What exactly is going on here?" Manikha continued to question what was going on. It seemed that going first and being easily knocked out can really confuse a person. She slowly got up from the bench and walked towards the stage to get a better view of the match. "Evidently I am the only one here; guess I'll have to cheer on Thomas myself."

…

"Hurry up Corey!" a stern female voice ordered.

"I'm running as fast as I can!" the male voice replied with a hint of anger in his tone.

"Well it's not fast enough!" the female voice got sterner.

"Well I don't think your plan is going to work," the leader commented.

"Shut up! It's the only thing we can do to help Thomas!"

"Screw Thomas; I doubt that he can last very long against Auron!" A flying hand smacked Corey across the face, leaving behind a glowing red hand print.

"Shut up and keep running!" the female voice angrily ordered. The male teen sighed and continued to run. How did he get himself wrapped up in this craziness, but the female remembered all too well. Then again, you have to consider it was just a few minutes ago.

"_What just happened?" Courtney asked rubbing the back of her head. She looked around and saw that she was no longer on the stage fighting alongside Thomas._

"_Would you mind getting off of me gravity butt?" a male voice asked from under her._

"_Are you calling me __**fat**__?" the female asked with rage. She raised her bottom up a little then slammed down hard on the teen._

"_No! I just want you to get off of me!" he scolded._

"_You're such a crybaby Corey!" Courtney sighed as she slowly got up._

"_You have a gravity problem," Corey commented. It wasn't a wise thing to say considering that Courtney wasn't completely off yet. She took this insult and slammed back down on Corey. A few slams and insults later, the two fighting teens got to their feet and placed themselves against the platform, to avoid being seen._

"_What are we doing exactly?" the flame user asked as he followed Courtney who was slowly inching towards the doors._

"_We're going to head back to Hades' chamber to stop his control of the warriors. If we don't so something, Thomas, even all of us might die here," she explained to him._

"_What's in his chamber that he uses to control them? I thought he used some sort of mind control power," the leader shared his thought._

"_I thought so too, until I remembered the dolls," she told him. "Insert mad dash here." Corey looked even more confused now that Courtney had added an extra line to her sentence._

"_What does that...?" he was about to question her but noticed that she was silently sprinting towards the door. Corey soon followed, looking back to make sure they weren't noticed. From the looks of it, Hades was too engrossed in the fight to even notice them. Hell, they could be leaving with a full marching band, playing the music as loud as possible, and he still wouldn't have noticed._

"_Come on Corey, we don't have much time; let's move," Courtney ordered as she started running down a pathway that was so conveniently placed there. The fireman noticed that this pathway wasn't here when they came into the Underworld, but if it's there, use it. Right?_

"_What makes you think these dolls have anything to do with them? Where did you even see them?" he inquired the knowledge from his antsy friend._

"_Don't you remember when we first entered Hades' chamber? They were sitting right there on the cauldron in the center of the room. I thought they were weird, considering they were very lifelike. Then when Hades told us that he had captured their hearts and souls, he had to put them somewhere. Come on, even you can put two and two together," she explained, but did so in a manner that made it seem like a pain._

"_So all we have to do is grab them and smash them? Sounds like fun!"_

"We're here!" Courtney pointed out as the reached the outer door of the chamber.

"I think we should keep our guard up, just to be on the safe side," Corey told her. She nodded in agreement and they proceeded with caution. The room was exactly like how they remembered it, not even a hair out of place. They quickly rushed over to the center of the room, and found the aforementioned cauldron. All the dolls were still standing in the exact place they were last time.

"Auron, Cloud, Balthier, Fran, and Kimahri. They're all here," Corey counted.

"This Auron figure is awesome! I think after I break it, I'm going to put it back together to keep it myself," Courtney thought.

"Courtney, you really need some help," her friend jested.

"That's fine, but do you have to breathe down my neck?" she asked without looking up.

"I am no where near you," he told her as he looked towards her direction.

"Then who…?" she wondered as she slowly turned around. The room was dark with only an ominous blue glow that filled the room. As she turned, she noticed three pairs of glowing red eyes staring at her.

"A three-headed dog. Cerberus," she gasped. The sets of fangs, dripping with drool closed in on her. With an ear piercing yelp, and a blast from a fire ball, the over sized dog backed off and shook to regain their composure.

"You owe me one," the owner of the fire ball in formed her. She turned to face Corey, who was about to be ambushed himself. A small blue demon, wielding a dark pink sickle blade on a chain came out of the air.

"Pain slicker!" Panic called out. Courtney summoned a bolt of lighting and assaulted the oncoming demon.

"Now we're even!" she informed the only other teen that was in around her. They exchanged glances and smiled.

"Shall we?" Corey asked.

…

"Before we continue, may I ask a question?" Auron asked.

"Go ahead; it seems kind of pointless though," Thomas allowed. He had his hands on his knees, panting, slowing trying to regain his breath.

"Why do you call me Mr. Bushido?"

"Bushido is the way of the samurai. The way you fight reminds me of a certain pirate who also follows the same code," the panting teen explained.

"I see. Here I thought it was because my sword techniques, forget it. Let's continue," the samurai sighed.

"Sand tomb," the spiky head teen called out, not giving Auron the chance to move. Four snake-like sand vines came out of the ground around Mr. Bushido's feet and, in a blink of an eye, Auron was completely wrapped up to his head in sand.

"This is stupid!" the old man shouted as his sword arm broke free.

"Damnit!" Thomas cursed as he jumped to the side to avoid a flying blade attack that was released by Auron. Now that the Samurai was free, this battle was going to turn ugly.

"This is my story, and I don't want you to be a part of it," Auron warned the opposing teen. Slowly he raised his sword to meet his body. Not wanting to be completely defenseless, Thomas raised his keyblade, similar to the manner of Auron, with the only difference was that his was held out, to be used as a shield. "Bushido!"

"Crap, I have no idea how to fight him any more; most of the time he was just toying with me. Giving me false hope, making me think that I actually stood a chance, and now, I have nothing," the earth user's panic echoed throughout his mind. Auron slowly dipped his blade, almost like he was going to stab someone. He buckled his knees and launched himself. The sound of clashing metal filled the room. Who could possibly be matching blades with Auron? Thomas closed his eyes as he braced himself for impact, while his friends were on the sidelines watching and recovering from their fights. Then who?

Thomas slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was being protected by a certain spiky head hero, who just happened to have blond hair.

"You opened my eyes to the truth. Although I am still under control, I feel that I have to repay you somehow. Please allow me to fight along side you," Cloud bargained with Thomas.

"You said that you were still under control right?" the teen asked his savior.

"Yeah, what about it?" the blond answered without even looking at the teen.

"Good. I have a plan!"

…

"Down boy!" Corey ordered as he was being chased around the chamber by the three-headed, rampaging dog. Unfortunately for him, Cerberus didn't listen. He continued to chase Corey in a circle, with each head taking turn, seeing who could bite Corey first.

"Fine! If you won't listen, take this!" the fireman shot a fireball from the end of his keyblade at his attacker. The middle head panicked and opened it mouth. "Bull's-eye!" Corey cheered as it landed in the dog's mouth. The head quickly closed it mouth and swallowed the ball, and with a hiss, the dog opened it mouth again and a small smoke stack quickly exited the body. The other heads smiled and snickered; Corey knew he was going to be in for a hard battle.

"Pain Scythe!"

"Panic Fail!"

"Pain Blade!"

"Panic Staff!" The demons kept on swinging one weapon after another at Courtney. Normally she would be able to dodge or counter them with ease, but that wasn't the case here. The demons kept switching back and forth. Transform, attack, and switch, was the method of attacking.

"Make up your mind already!" Courtney shouted at them as she electrified the both of them, the moment both were in their 'true' form. Why were they wasting their time fighting? Their friends needed their help, and they were too busy wasting their time on the trash, so to speak.

"We will," Pain said as he stood back up.

"We were just getting warmed up," Panic informed her as they both started to laugh.

"That's good," Courtney smirked, "so was I."

…

"Did you actually think that you could take on my most powerful soldiers?" Hades asked as he kicked Thomas, who was lying on the floor.

"Yeah I did, and I still do," the teen replied with a smile as he slowly made his way back to his feet.

"Really, why is that?" Hades asked, wanting to know the source of that teen's courage.

"You don't want to know," the teen sighed and looked away.

"Just tell me," the god commanded.

"Fine. It's because you're the worst villain ever," Thomas jested, with Hades being unaware.

"What makes you think that," the flamer questioned, trying to remain clam. Thomas figured he'd touched a weak spot, considering the hair on Hades' head turned red.

"Well, you've just have been watching, and you never told us once to give up. What is it with you? Are we not that big of a threat to you? Are we so weak that you don't think much of us? You won't give us the time of day just because we kids. I see how it is," the teen complained, knowing very well that the god would take the bait.

"I'm sorry, allow me to make up for that," the god offered, but by the look of his face, you could tell he was confused.

"Hook, line, and sinker," the spiky headed teen cheered in his head.

"Why don't you just give up," the god told the teen, but did it in a monotonous voice that made Thomas' as if he were singing an opera.

"I'm sorry, come again," the teen sighed as he looked away.

"Why don't you just give up," the god stated again, but with a little more feeling this time.

"Didn't catch that," the teen mocked.

"Why don't you just give up!" the flamer said with his hair turning red. Thomas glanced up at him and gave him a smug look.

"I'm sorry, you need to be a little more specific about who needs to give up," Thomas continued to mock, trying to get Hades enraged. Manikha looked over at Thomas and saw him wink at her. She knew that he had a plan.

"WHY DON"T YOU GIVE UP! JUST GET ON YOUR KNEES AND BEG FOR YOUR LIFE!" the god angrily shouted while his whole upper body went up in flames. A water ball hit the god, distracting him from who he was pointing at. Thankful that Manikha managed to pick up on the plan (and fast), he took a step out of the way.

"I give up. Please master, spare my life," Auron got on the ground, bowed, and pleaded for his life. Hades looked over at his proud warrior bowing to him.

"As for me, I rather not," Thomas firmly stated.

"You lousy brat, you manipulated me," Hades said as he eyes narrowed with rage. He grabbed the teen by the collar of his shirt and lifted him into the air.

"I'm surprised by how easy it was," the teen stated, not fearing for his life.

"You're going to pay," the god warned as he threw the teen to the ground and walked close to the edge of the platform, leaving a few feet between him and the edge. "My warriors; please join me on stage!" One by one, every one of the fantasy warriors that were fought arrived on the stage, each one pointing their weapon at the teen's and coincidently Hades' direction.

"Need some back up?" Manikha asked as she joined Thomas on stage, with her keyblade in hand.

"Normally no, but I do at the moment," he answered her, with hesitation. A huge explosion came from the wall of the stadium that was behind Hades. A humongous, three headed dog emerged from the hole.

"Ah, Cerberus, out for some exercise I see," the god said lovingly to his pet.

"Not exactly!" Rachel called out. Thomas and Manikha turned their attention to the direction the voice came from. Somehow, Rachel had gotten next to them without them noticing.

"Is this your doing?" Thomas asked her.

"Where were you?" Manikha questioned.

"No, and in the restroom," she responded.

"The restroom? You were gone for almost an hour," Manikha so kindly pointed out.

"It took forever to find the only one there is. Apparently the dead and evil don't need to go as often as everyone else," Rachel told them seriously, but in a joking manner.

"I hate to break up this delightful conversation," Hades said in a distasteful tone, "but who's responsible for bringing my dog here?"

"That would be us!" Corey declared as he and Courtney were standing on the main head, pointing their keyblades at the god.

"You kids still think you can take me on? Don't make me laugh; I still have my warriors, and they can take you out with no problem!"

"Actually, you have nothing," a light tone, male voice told him.

"Balthier, what do you mean?" the god asked, with fear forming in his voice.

"We're free, and no longer in your control," the leading man informed his former master.

"I don't believe you," the god panicked, after all there was no proof.

"Believe it!" Courtney told him as she threw the five dolls at his feet. There, on the ground were Hades' five dolls, but each one broken in half.

"No, no, no!" Hades screamed at the top of his lungs.

Preview for chapter 14:

Hades is surrounded by his own warriors, the keyblade wielders, and his own pet. Will things turn out the way the teens had planned, or does Hades have one last trick up his sleeve?


	14. Secret Stowaway!

Author's note: Sorry for the lack of updates, school is taking its toll on me. As I type this little info note I have four papers due, but I need a break from all the typing and writing. Essays suck, being a senior sucks, and dual credit classes suck as well. Well now that my little rant is done, please read and review. You guys are the best readers ever, unlike a certain someone. Also, sorry if this story is of bad writing quality, most of my creativeness goes to my English class.

**Chapter 14: Secret Stowaway!**

"Hahahaha," Hades laughed as he saw the look of all the faces around him. They were serious about ganging up on him and attacking. "Did you guys forget that I'm a god? It's going to take a lot more than an army of punks to take me down!"

"Well, we're just going to wait for you to turn mortal before we attack," Manikha informed him, which was something she wasn't supposed to do. After all, it's not a secret plan if you tell the enemy what you are going to do. Am I right?

"The only way for me to become mortal is by a special potion or by surrendering my powers to another god," Hades almost mocked them.

"We do have a god," Corey informed him. Guess that everyone is telling him fragments of the plan.

"Oh really now?" he questioned. Everyone nodded their heads and pointed to the far end of the stadium. From the shadows Hercules was slowly walking towards them with a passed out Meg in his arms. "What?! I though you were destroyed by my dragon-hydra mix!" the lord of the underworld gasped.

"About that," Manikha chuckled.

"Funny story: he defeated that thing and we let him take a nap. I'm surprised the sounds of the tournaments didn't wake him up," Thomas explained.

"It's my fault for not checking to see if the deed was done," the flaming man told himself, while everyone gave him a look like he was stupid.

"Even Manikha knows to do that," Rachel commented, adding salt to the wound.

"Checkmate," Corey smiled.

"Not so fast, I still have a trick up my sleeve," Hades mentioned as he prepared himself for battle.

"Too bad," Courtney scolded him.

"Why is that?" the dark god questioned.

"He said checkmate. In chess, when that is said you lose, there's no 'hold on'," Balthier explained, "Now exit stage right!"

"Fine, stupid brats. I will hold up my end of the deal. I won't attack Wonderboy for a full year," the god sighed. Everyone cheered at this unusual victory, if only everyone could go down this easily. "Plus, all this free time give me a chance to think of new plans and new creatures to create." He started to mumble to himself, and then in a puff of black smoke he along with the warriors were gone.

Meg awoke soon, lying on a bench in the middle of the platform with everyone looking on her in fondness.

"What did I miss?" she wondered as she looked at all the smiling faces that surrounded her.

"Well, Hercules finally got his break," Corey informed the damsel in distress. Her face lit up and she quickly hugged the hero.

"We did it Wonderboy," she cried as she tightened her grip.

"Actually, they did," he modestly told her.

"I know. I didn't think that they would actually do it, but here we are," she commented in a surprised manner.

"Well what can we say? After all, we promised to help you," Thomas smiled as he scratched the back of his head.

"You promised!" the four remaining teens shouted at him.

"It doesn't matter, what's done is done," he chuckled.

"You kids were great," a male voice called out from a distance. It took seconds before a goat like creature arrived in there presence.

"Phil!" Herc called to him like he hasn't seen someone for a long time.

"Hey Mr. Hero, I see you're alive and well," Phil noticed with a small jab to the leg.

"Yeah I got some rest in why these kids took on Hades," the hero told his trainer.

"I'm aware of what went on," he mentioned as he tone turned serious. He cleared his throat which got the attention of everyone in the room.

"From the events that took place today, and going above and beyond when duty called, I now pronounce you junior heroes," the goat congratulated them.

"What? Only the junior level?" they all questioned.

"You're lucky to be getting that title; you guys have a lot to learn about being a true hero," the goat bahhed (not sure if right word, but it works).

"What about me? I actually defeated my opponents. That has to count for something," Thomas complained while receiving dirty looks from his friends.

"That is true, you also did throw down your weapon and tried to reason with the enemy," Phil mulled over.

"Always the diplomat," Rachel sarcastically sneered.

"You know what I always say: 'Use your words, not your fist. Better yet, use both,'" the spiky headed teen boasted.

"Well, it seems that you know more than your friends when it comes to fighting, so in the _special _case, I pronounce you a hero," Phil grimaced as he congratulated the new hero.

"You jerk!" the other four teens scolded the goat and their friend. You can just tell how proud they are of him.

The broken dolls that remained on the floor started to glow, grabbing the attention of the group. The slowly floated into the sky and Corey's keyblade appeared on its own free will.

"What is going on?" he questioned with fear.

"I think our time here is up," Manikha pointed out. What do you know, she was right. A beam of light shot out of the blade and hit the suspended dolls. With a flash of light a giant keyhole appeared in the sky.

"Shame you guys have to go so soon," Hercules frowned. He wanted to try fighting them to see exactly how strong they are.

"It's been a real slice, just come back to visit us," Meg told them.

"We will," they promised her as they left the stadium.

With a thrust of the rockets and a jerk of the controls, the gummi ship blasted off into the endless black sky.

"I set the ship into auto-pilot; we should have no problems getting to the next world. All we have to do now is wait," Thomas informed them as he got up from the controls and started to walk to the back of the command room.

"That's good," Corey stated as he was staring out a window on one side of the room. Meanwhile on the other side, the girls were sitting at a table. Rachel was playing a card game with Manikha, needless to say, she was winning. Courtney on the other hand was busy putting something together.

"What are you working on?" the spiky headed teen asked the blond tipped one.

"I'm putting this Auron doll back together," she answered with excitement in her voice.

"Why are you doing that?" the pink fiend asked.

"Does she really need a reason?" the red head questioned her friend.

"Well if you must know: I think Auron is amazingly awesome, plus this doll counts as a rare collector's item that no other fan can or ever will have," she responded. Everyone smiled then went back to what they were doing, while Thomas walked to the back of his seat and started out the main window.

"You want to be careful in this sky, the heartless ships can some out of nowhere," a voice informed the piloting teen.

"I've got that covered. If there are any ships nearby, the sensor will go off," the pilot told him.

"That's good, 'cause even the slightest thing can throw you off the path," the voice told him.

"Don't worry, I've got it covered," the pilot responded. "Wait, did you say something Corey?" he asked trying to find out where the voice was coming from.

"Nope, not a thing," he solemnly stated without turning his attention from the window.

"Sneak attack!" Thomas shouted, alarming his friends. The stopped whatever they were doing to draw their keyblades and pointed it at the stranger who was dressed in nothing but a black robe.

"Don't point such things at me," he told them. In a flash of light, the keyblades were knocked out of their hands and landed on the floor. "It's dangerous."

"What are you doing here?" Corey demanded to know the strangers intentions.

"I'm not on an assignment, so there's no need to fight," he informed the unarmed group. "I'm just here to talk."

"That voice sounds familiar," the males thought as if they have encountered that person before.

"Well if you're here to talk, then show us what's under the robe!" Courtney instructed the stranger.

"Fair enough," he sighed as he removed his hood, revealing his spiky blond hair, and a young face as if he was around their age.

"Roxas!" Thomas gasped.

"You know him?" Manikha wondered.

"Yes, our paths crossed twice," he answered.

"That doesn't explain much," Rachel told him.

"Well if you want great detail, I fought him when I obtained my keyblade and then he asked a favor from me in Radiant Garden," Thomas explained.

"Well then, he's really harmless?" Courtney inquired.

"I wouldn't say that, but we can drop our guard," Corey informed his friends.

"So why are you here?" the spiky headed teen asked.

"I came to give you a warning," the explained.

"About what?" the leader wondered.

"It concerns the nobodies, specifically a group of nobodies," he answered.

"What are nobodies?" Manikha challenged.

"Weren't you paying attention to Yen Sid's lecture?" the sassy (Courtney) teen grilled.

"No," she confessed.

"That doesn't matter. What does is the group I'm talking about. Prepare yourselves, for what I'm about to show you is something adult oriented," Roxas warned.

"Come on, it can't be that bad," the doyen commented.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya," Roxas forewarned. All eyes were on him as he unzipped his robe. "Last chance," he mentioned but no one made a move. He let it dropped to the floor, revealing a completely naked Roxas, with only his shoes on.

"Wasn't expecting that," Corey annotated as he fainted from embarrassment.

"Is he going to be okay?" Roxas asked.

"He'll be fine," Courtney made a motion.

"So, the hole in your chest, that's where your heart is supposed to be," Thomas pointed out.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Courtney stated as she smacked the spiky headed teen on the back of the head. Before he had a chance to respond a loud buzzing noise came from the main computer. The pilot rushed over and pressed a few buttons to bring the call on the main window which also doubled as a screen.

"Hey sensei," Thomas answered the call, pretending like nothing is happening.

"Hey kiddo, how have you guys been?" Cid answered trying to make small talk.

"We're hanging in there, just been through some tough trials and tribulations," the ship owner responded.

"So, what's with the naked guy?" the ship builder inquired, acknowledging that he'd noticed.

"Oh that? It's just Rachel's birthday," Thomas lied.

"But why is Corey passed out on the floor?" Cid questioned.

"It's Rachel's birthday," the teen repeated slowly.

"Okay, do I want to know what's going on?" Cid wondered.

"No, you honestly don't," the teen returned.

"Well I'm just calling to tell you that the Queen has summoned you guys, so head over to Disney Castle as soon as possible," Cid instructed.

"Will do Sensei," Thomas answered back in tone similar to mocking. The call ended showing the stars and random floating objects that surrounded them on the path way. "Someone wake up Corey and Roxas, put your robe back on. We're changing paths!" Thomas commanded.

Preview for Chapter 15:

After hearing Roxas out, the gang decides they should focus on the task at hand and deal with the organization if they ever come across them. When they arrive at their new destination, things are not right as darkness hangs about the castle.


	15. Disney Castle!

Author's note: Well school is picking up again so my dream of resuming the weekly update has been crushed. Damn college credit hours! Well I hope you enjoy and review. Also, I would like to say sorry for the flipping of personalities of everyone.

**Capturing the Light Arc:**

**Chapter 15: Disney Castle!**

"Let me join your crew," Roxas answered.

"What?" everyone gasped with shock on their face. A smirk appeared on the blond teen's face.

"The only places I have to go are the same world you will be visiting, and the only place I have to return to sees me as a traitor and will kill me on the spot. So this ship seems to be the best place for me," Roxas explained his reasoning with the other teens.

"Well if it's like that, guess I have no choice. Sure, you can join," Corey accepted the invitation.

"Corey!" everyone shouted at their leader, each with a different expression on their face. (Thomas had the look of distrust, Manikha was confused, Courtney was peeved, and Rachel didn't care, in case you're wondering.)

"It's okay; I can tell he's a good person, and an awesome fighter," Corey smiled which meant doom for his friends.

"That's not what I'm worried about," Thomas sighed as he shot a 'what are you up to' look at Roxas, but only received a deceiving smile in return.

"Relax guys, I'm not really going to join," the blond teen informed them.

"Why not?" Corey inquired, looking disappointed.

"I am currently looking for someone, and I don't have the luxury of time like you guys have. I can't just laze around while you guys do whatever it is that you have to do," Roxas went into simple detail.

"Then why did you ask to join us then?" Manikha questioned. It seems that she is still confused, even more so now than when the conversation had started.

"I just wanted to know if there was a place out there for me. You know, if I ever need it," he smiled.

"Well the offer still stands, take it whenever you want," Corey offered. He was being unusually generous, especially to a stranger nonetheless.

"Thanks, I'll see you guys soon," the blond thanked and took a few step away from the teens.

"Hey Rox," Thomas called out to him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'll let you know if I learn anything about him," the spiky hair teen told him. Roxas nodded his head. Suddenly a black portal appeared in their ship. The blond walked through and the portal vanished.

"What was that last part about?" Manikha asked with all the attention turning to Thomas.

"Geez, you are slow Manikha. Obviously it was about their secret love life," Rachel joked.

"It's not a secret anymore now that you told everyone," Corey added.

"Thanks Rachel, last time I trust you," Thomas buzzed.

"Are you serious? I can't tell," Manikha wondered.

"It was just a really bad joke," Courtney sighed as she restrained herself from hitting Manikha, "It seems that you are just a lost cause." Everyone let out a deep sigh. This was going to be a long journey.

Not long after the events, the ship soon landed at the next world. What they saw was shocking, just like the last world had been. Strangely enough, something seemed off. Even though the were standing at the edge of the maze like garden, they could still see the castle that towered in the sky. It was a pure white with blue ceilings, a lot of towers that seemed to have no purpose, tons of windows and walkways. Truly this was beyond words. Interesting enough, the castle still shined brightly, even though the sky was a dark gray.

"Something doesn't feel right about this place," Courtney mentioned as she was feeling uneasy.

"So you noticed it too?" Corey asked.

"Kind of hard not to. After all, the sky is dark," Rachel remarked. Corey was about to say something but was cut of by one of the teens.

"We should just head straight for the castle and see why we were summoned," Thomas suggested. Without any need to agree with the teen, they all started to run towards the castle. Even though the garden was a maze, there was a pretty easy and straight forward path.

"We're almost there!" Manikha pointed out. Although they had to cut their sprint short as the stopped when dark portals began to appear.

"Are the heartless here too?" Manikha asked even though the questioned answered itself.

"What kind are they?" Rachel wondered.

The heartless looked like an over grown shadow, with the heartless crest on its chest. It had a golden helmet with the red fur tailing off. It even had black glove-like hands, and black boot-like feet. The teens formed a circle as the heartless kept appearing all around them.

"Guess it's time to bring out the big toys," Courtney smirked. Everyone looked at her in a strange manner.

"Oh, she has that look again," Corey mentioned as he hands started to shake a little.

"Leave this to me!" she reassured them. With a mighty thrust she summoned her keyblade, and it appeared in her hand in a flash of light. The heartless slowly inched backed when they saw the strange weapon.

"No way, you got to fight them off last time! Let one of us have a turn!" Manikha complained. She quickly called her keyblade, which appeared like water droplets merging together to morph into her weapon. The heartless saw the second blade and started to inch away faster.

"No time to fight about it, the heartless are getting away!" Thomas pointed out as the all scattered. In a burst of flames, in a gust of wind, and with a stream of sand, the others called out their blades.

"Let's chase them down!" Rachel suggested with a Courtney smirk on her face.

"The person who takes down the most wins!" Corey added. They all nodded in agreement and ran into separate directions.

After chasing down and destroying all the heartless that were loose in the garden, the team regrouped back at the exit of the maze, which was right in front of the castle.

"Well how did everyone do?" Corey asked with a smirk on his face.

"Only fifteen," Manikha sighed. She was looking forward to this more than anyone, except for Courtney.

"I got 28," Rachel boasted, rubbing it in Manikha's face.

"I got 28 and a half," Courtney laughed.

"How did you get a half?" Corey wondered.

"Well I cut it in half, but only the bottom half vanished," Courtney laughed as she explained what had happened.

"That explains my 31 and a half," Thomas stated as he was glad he found out how he got a half.

"That leaves me with 32," Corey bragged.

"Liar!" His friends called him on it. All their leader did was shrugged and walked towards the door of the castle. It seems that he is a graceful loser at least. They walked up to the door but stop mid-way on the final step. One of the doors were opening, and if they continued on, they would have been hit.

"Who's there?" a stern voice called out.

"Girl scout cookies for sell," Rachel answered in a joking tone.

"What are girl scout cookies?" asked the female that emerged from the shadow behind the door.

"They're an evil organization bent on taking over the world. The sell cookies to help fund their evil empire. We would stop them if the cookies weren't so delicious," Rachel stated.

"I find that hard to believe," the female remarked. The duck-like woman, batted her eyes checking out the teens. Her purple montage of a dress rustled as she turned from side to side. "State your business."

"We were summoned by the queen," Corey stated.

"I see. Well follow me quickly, we don't want to be outside for too long," she plainly told them and started to walk inside.

"Why is that?" Manikha wondered.

"The heartless are restless here. When they appear they come in larger and larger groups. I don't know how much longer it's going to be until they start taking over the castle," the duck sighed. There was a hint of fear and sadness in her voice, but the others knew better than to call her on it. If they could guess one thing, it would be that the queen might be the one to explain all of this.

As they entered, they came into a huge, but empty room. The only thing that was here were a few doors along the sides of the walls, and a great big staircase in the center of the room.

"Daisy, there you are," another female voice came out. They saw a mouse like woman, wearing a pink dress rush over to them.

"I was just merely greeting our guests," Daisy explained. It would seem that the moment she entered the castle, she wasn't cold and reserved anymore.

"I am Queen Minnie," the mouse introduced herself to the group.

"Are we supposed to bow or something?" Thomas whispered to the person closest to him.

"Not sure," he was answered back.

"Maybe we should just in case," a third voice suggested.

"What if we do and it offends her? You know, she might be that kind of queen," the second voice questioned.

"Guys, cool it, she's staring right at us," the fourth voice warned.

"We're sorry," Rachel apologized, "we just don't know if we should bow or not."

"Ah, the age old question," Daisy and Minnie giggled. The teens stared in awe, knowing that they were the butt of an inside joke.

"Yeah, anyways, we were wondering why you summoned us," Thomas stated, breaking up the laughter.

"That's right, I have something to show you guys," the queen remembered. "Follow me." She scuttled across the room to a eerie door that was in the far corner of the room.

"Oh no, she's taking us to the basement," Courtney sarcastically gasped.

"This is how all those horror movies start," Rachel went along.

"She's going to take us down to a sound-proof room," Corey added.

"Where no one can hear us scream," Thomas continued.

"Since she is going to kill us," Manikha wanted to get in on the joke.

"Yeah that was the joke, but you killed it," her friends scolded her.

"Hurry up!" Minnie called to them, catching them off guard. They looked over and saw that she was already there. Panicking, they all ran over, wondering what was in store for them.

After entering the strange, dark room, and going down several flights of stairs, they arrived in another strange room. In the center of the room was a giant, clear, crystal orb, with a could of black smoke inside. Everywhere else, was a thick forest of razor sharp thorns.

"It's been like this ever since the king left," the queen whined.

"I wonder what happened," Corey pitched.

"I'll tell you what happened," an old male voice told him.

"Merlin?" Minnie gasped.

"Indeed, it is similar to the other time," Merlin chimed in as he walked out of the shadows.

"Other time?" Thomas pondered.

"Yes, Maleficent, the mistress of all evil, casted a dark spell, taking away the light yet again," Merlin rambled.

"Is there anyway of restoring it?" Rachel asked out of curiosity.

"Indeed there is," he smiled. "You just go through the door over there," he pointed to an open area where a door fell out of the sky, "and just make sure the cornerstone of light is safe a secured."

"Is that what that weird orb thing is called?" Courtney asked and got a nod in return.

"Sounds easy enough," Corey trailed off.

"Good, I leave this to you, meet me in the throne room when you return," Minnie informed them as she left the room.

"I have a bad feeling," Manikha mentioned to the group. They walked over to the door that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

…

"What are you doing here?" Daisy asked a woman dressed in a black robe, with a shining golden crown placed on her head, and holding a golden brown, wooden staff.

"I came to have an audience with the queen," the mysterious woman sneered.

Preview for chapter 16:  
A colorless world, an unknown enemy, and an all out battle. Will the group be able to save the cornerstone before it falls into the wrong hands?


	16. On the TImeless River!

Author's note: It's been a while since I had a new chapter posted. As I stated before, school gets in the way. Now I have even less time since the dreaded research paper is forced upon me along with a few dozen essays. Well, enough complaining, let's get on with the chapter. Please read and review. Sorry if you don't like it. Thing will be picked up and get interesting soon.

**Chapter 16: On The Timeless River!**

"This is interesting," commented the group as they entered the new world. Needless to say that they were all surprised and confused about the realm they had just entered.

"Why is everything so grainy?" Manikha asked, looking around.

"Forget that, why does it look like we were drawn in an old cartoon?" Courtney wondered noticing that all the complexities of their clothes had become simple. What was even more astonishing was that their eyes were big, black, and looked soulless and full of life at the same time.

"Well on the capacious scale, this place scores really low," Thomas sighed. This whole world consisted of a field with semi-giant hill were the cornerstone rested. A fence enclosed the field in which they arrived on. The only other redeeming feature was the river that had no inlet or outlet, but somehow continued to flow. Right next to the water was a pier that stretched out into the water allowing a boat to dock there.

"Am I the only one who noticed that there is no color here?" Corey questions the group.

"No, you're not. After all, there's a chance color hasn't been invented here yet," Rachel pointed out.

"Color was never invented," he wanted to tell her, but decided against it. After all, it is a different world. The reality was he grew up with might not be the same.

"Forget all your bitching Corey, there is something more important here that needs to be addressed," the other male told him. Corey glared at his friend. How dare he use profanity while talking to him?

"Oh yeah, what is that?" the "alpha" male inquired.

"I want to know why the cornerstone is out in the open with no protection. It's practically screaming 'steal me'!" The spiky hair teen stated like it wasn't obvious.

"That is a good point," he hesitantly agreed.

"Well I'll tell you why it's there if you want," a southern accent offered the group. They turned around to see a giant white chicken, which surprisingly had black wings, a black tail, a gray head, and wore a white hat with a bush feather.

"Who are you?" one of them asked, even though it was written all over their faces.

"Well I'm Clara, it's a delight to see such young people taking an interest in the cornerstone these days," she clucked.

"What exactly is it?" Manikha wondered.

"Well this has the power to drive out all evil forces, no matter how great," another female voice informed them. They looked to see who the new comer was. Another animal, what a surprise. The new girl was a black cow, who wore a white skirt with a black zigzag that circled the bottom, and used a cow bell as a necklace. I will also mention that she had no shirt on; it seems that women had no shame back in the old Disney days.

"Oh Clarabelle, I see you're here too," gawked Clara.

"Yes, I'm afraid I lost sight of Horace," she grumbled.

"How did you lose sight of him? This is such as small place." Rachel wondered but kept the thought to herself.

"Clara and Clarabelle? Seems that someone ran out of names pretty fast," Thomas silently laughed, causing everyone to look at him.

"Well I'll help you look for him," Clara offered. RE-Clara (Clarabelle) nodded and they both walked off.

"That was completely pointless," Courtney sighed. She couldn't be more right.

A few minutes had passed, and the teens sat around staring at the sphere. It stayed there, almost mocking them. How exactly were they supposed to make sure this was safe and okay?

"I'm bored. I say we destroy it and be done with it," Manikha suggested. As tempting as it was, they had to decide against it.

"I'm sorry, but destroying it in the past will severely alter the future," Corey explained.

"Oh really now?" Courtney asked mocking him.

"How the hell should I know?" he told her.

"Well you love birds can fight all you want, but right now we've got a bigger problem on our hands," Rachel calmly told them. They shot her the death glare, in which she responded by pointing up. They hesitated at first, but when they looked up they saw a hood flying towards them. It was attached to a rope. By following the rope, they saw that it was coming from the boat that was suspending on the water.

"Well that looks promising," Thomas smirked. With a swirl of sand wrapping around his hand, he called forth his keyblade. "Galley crescent!" he swung sending a blade of sand at the rope. With a small snap, the rope separated, but it didn't last for long considering beads of darkness formed where the rope was cut and reattached the two pieces.

"What in the world?" everyone gasped. The rope wrapped around the giant sphere.

"The steamboat is trying to take the cornerstone," Manikha pointed out, even though it was completely obvious. Before they could react, puffs of black smoke surrounded.

"Heartless," Courtney sighed.

"At a time like this?" Corey scorned. When the smoke cleared, hundreds of airplanes and hammers surrounded them.

"Really? The heartless we get attacked by are airplanes and hammers?" Courtney asked, disappointed by her enemies.

"I wonder how they decide what shape to take," Rachel shared her thought.

"Okay here's the plan guys. I'll stop the steamboat while you guys take care of the heartless," their leader ordered.

"Fine by us, just take Manikha with you," Thomas told him.

"What, why?" Corey asked.

"Because we don't want her here," Rachel and Courtney thought.

"Well she's a water user and the boat is on water, so she'll be able to help you out," Thomas explained.

"That didn't make much sense," Corey sighed.

"Here, I'll make it simpler for you. Manikha + Water = Success," Thomas mocked.

"Got'cha," the light bulb in Corey's head finally went off. He grabbed Manikha by the arm and rushed to the river, leaving the three teens to fend for themselves. With a flip of her hair, and a bolt of lighting form her hand, Courtney summoned her keyblade and got into her battle stance.

"I've been in a bad mood all day. Time for a stress reliever," Courtney grinned.

"Oh great, she's in one of those moods again," Thomas nervously smiled.

"Yeah, let's take a few steps back so we don't get caught up in the action," Rachel suggested.

...

Meanwhile, the other two teens arrived at the river. They saw the steamboat gently floating on the open water, only with the cornerstone attached to a little tug boat that is trailing behind the boat.

"How are we going to get the cornerstone?" Manikha asked.

"It's not we, it's you," Corey told her.

"Sure make me do all the work," she sighed.

"Well you do use water, so it should be easy for you," he informed her.

"What does that even mean?" she questioned.

"Use your control of water and bring the boat ashore," the leader rubbed his eyes as he instructed her.

She held out her hand and a small stream of water wrapped around it. With a mighty swing she brought out her keyblade. She walked towards the edge of the river and keeled beside it. She dipped her keyblade in the water and closed her eyes. Slowly ripples pulsed from where the keyblade was submerged and gradually they got faster.

…

With a few flashes of light, the heartless were gone.

"That was too easy," Courtney congratulated herself.

"Way to go," Rachel cheered.

"Care to share next time?" Thomas jokingly asked. Just as those words were muttered puffs of black smoke surrounded them. This time, there was far more than the first time.

"Looks like you got your wish," Courtney reminded her friend. They stared down their enemies, instead of the Aeroplanes and the Hammer Frames, this time they were faced with big and tougher adversaries: Hot Rods.

"Great. Cars." Rachel sighed.

…

The dust cloud cleared showing that Manikha had successfully pulled the boat close to the shore. Her victory was short lived however considering a huge silhouette jumped out from the boat.

"What do you kids think you're doing to my ship?" the enraged shadow asked. They turned to see who it was. From what they saw, it seemed like he was a tall but chubby dog-like human, wearing overalls that had one strap to attach to the pant from across the chest, and his hat seemed to be tall like a top hat.

"Washing it up upon the shore so we can take the cornerstone back with ease," Manikha sarcastically answered.

"Well," the dog huffed, "wasn't expecting a straight answer out of a kid."

"Yeah, we're not normal kids," Corey sighed.

"So what do you brats want with this here stone?" the strange man pestered.

"The exact opposite of why you want it," the girl plainly stated.

"So you want to destroy it and have the light vanish forever?" the man questioned in a confused manner.

"More or less," the girl told him. They two stared each other down.

"Actually, we want to put it back where it belongs," Corey truthfully explained.

"Sorry no can do. Good ol' Pete here is suppose to keep this stone of the pedestal because some kids are suppose to come and corrupt the light," the stranger blurted out. They two teens glanced at each other. It would seem that someone got to him and fed him a big helping of misinformation.

"What a surprise," Manikha nervously chuckled as she elbowed Corey in the side. He looked over at her and tried to pick up on her plan.

"Yes it is," he laughed, "we're looking for those same kids as well." He punched his hand.

"Well it's a lucky day for us," Pete smiled.

"Why is that?" Corey wondered.

"She's standing right next to you!" he declared and he tightened his fist. Without even thinking, Corey pushed Manikha out of the way, as he himself was barely grazed by the punch.

"Whoa, hold it! What make you think that it's her?" Corey inquired from the violent dog.

"It's 'cause of that weird weapon she's holding. The witch said to beware anyone who is holding anything similar to an oversized key!" Pete announced.

"Three guesses of who that is," Manikha told herself as she was getting back up.

…

"Get out of the way! Sandstorm!" Thomas shouted as he swung his blade. Moments after the girls jumped to either side, a giant whirlwind of sand formed and headed towards the heartless. The only bad part is, the attack went in a straight line so almost half of them managed to get out of the way in time, while the others were so helplessly defeated.

"That was a pointless attack!" Courtney shouted at her dear friend as puffs of black smoke took the place of the heartless that were defeated only moments ago.

"Silly boy, you're so useless," Rachel giggled, putting a smirk on the other girl's face.

"Oh, then care to do the honors?" Thomas scolded. Rachel nodded.

"This is how it's done," she explained as she lifted her keyblade to the sky. "Hurricane!" she screamed as her weapon started to glow green. A huge whirlwind blew past, destroying every heartless in it's path, along with everything else; good thing there wasn't much.

"You go girl!" Courtney congratulated the other girl with a high five.

"Well I hate to piss on your parade, but we have company," the teen boy sighed as black smoke surrounded them yet again.

Preview for chapter 17:

The heartless keep attacking wave after wave. Will Team Thomas be able to hold them off long enough for Team Corey to return the cornerstone back to its original place?


	17. Once and Future Pete!

**Chapter 17: Once and Future Pete!**

**TEAM COREY**

"Hold on there a moment, Manikha is no witch," Corey defended his friend. A look of confusion filled Pete's face.

"I ain't said nothing about her being a witch. I reckoned I told you I heard from the witch that she is after this here stone," the dog explained.

"Can you describe this witch?" Manikha inquired.

"I ain't telling you anything," he explicitly told her.

"So, just because she has that weird weapon, she's an enemy?" Corey tried to piece the puzzle together.

"Exactly, that's the way I was told," Pete solved the riddle.

"Well I guess I'm your enemy too," Corey sighed as he called forth his keyblade. A flame wrapped around his hand before it revealed itself.

"Corey," Manikha looked pleased at her friend before the look went bitter, "you idiot! We could have gotten important information out of him before you called out your keyblade!"

"Well excuse me for trying to protect one of my friends," Corey snapped at her.

"Wait, where did Pete go?" she asked him when she saw that Pete was gone. "How could someone as fat as him vanish without a sound?"

"You stupid kids, try getting that precious stone back now!" Pete shouted from the center of the lake.

"He got to his boat pretty fast," Corey noticed. With a clank of ancient machinery, a mechanical grappling hook like claw emerged from the boat and headed towards the two teens. "Well this looks promising," Corey pointed out.

**TEAM THOMAS**

"What are these fat things?" Rachel asked, referring to the Large Body heartless.

"They look like heartless turned wannabe sumo wrestlers," Courtney stated. Thomas swung the keyblade with all his might, but his attack bounced off.

"Crap, our attacks are useless, and there are hundred of these things; how do we take them out?" he asked his teammates.

"Buy me sometime," Rachel instructed, "I'll check the Heartless Glossary." _The Heartless Glossary is a book given to the teens by Merlin himself before they left on their journey. This book contains pictures, descriptions, and even tactics on how to beat just about every heartless there is. Since this book has magical properties, it automatically updates itself with the newest information._

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" the teens asked but Rachel was already zoned out flipping the pages of the book. Thomas and Courtney stood back to back staring down the challenge they hand in front of them.

"Standard procedure?" Thomas questioned her.

"This situation doesn't call for that sadly," she responded back.

"How about the good ol' one two?" he suggested.

"Won't work here either," she stated shooting down his idea yet again.

"Then what do we do?" he asked not wanting another idea to be shot down.

"Well if physical attacks won't work, then let me use my lightning," she smirked.

"Good grief, you should have told me that from the beginning!" he scolded.

**TEAM COREY**

The claw lunged forward but the teens jumped out of the way in the nick of time. It swept to the side trying to make a clean sweep of the kids and trying to knock them out, although they managed to avoid the attack yet again. The claw pulled back and returned to the ship.

"How are we suppose to fight something like that?" Manikha asked.

"I'm not sure, but we have to take care of the ship first!" he instructed her.

The claw lifted something from the back of the boat. With a flick of a wrist (metaphorically speaking) the claw started to throw barrels and crates at the teens. It was easy for them to dodge the falling objects at first, but the rain of boxes intensified, making them retreat from the area of battle.

"Where is it getting all those things from?" Manikha wondered.

"More importantly, why isn't it running out of them?" Corey mentioned.

"Then what do we do?"

"I'm not sure."

"We have to do something to stop the boat."

"Can you wash it ashore again?"

"No. I know it will find some way to stop me way before I get the chance."

"That is true. Unless...."

"It will take a pretty big distraction."

"Listen up, I have a plan," Corey smiled sending fear down Manikha's spine.

**TEAM THOMAS**

Courtney gasped as her lightning had little to no effect on the heartless. Hopelessness filled their eyes until a familiar voice they haven't heard in a while spoke of.

"I know how to defeat them!" Rachel cried out.

"What do we do?" the two teens attacked her with questions.

"Its front side is immune to attacks, so you have to get it from the back," she explained to them.

"That's what she said," Thomas chuckled.

"Now is not the time for that!" Courtney slapped him on the back of his head. Rachel couldn't help but laugh at Thomas' comment. After all, it was funny. The heartless reacted to hearing their weakness being called out. With a hand moment from one Large Body, the rest started to rush the teens. They moved faster than their bodies should physically allow them to. Rachel grabbed her friends and used her wind ability to jump high into the air.

"I won't be able to stay afloat for long," Rachel informed them, "If we're going to attack, we have to do it now!"

"Courtney, grab my legs," Thomas instructed as he broke free from Rachel's grasp. Courtney did as she was told even though it made no sense.

"Hurry up if you've got something planned," Rachel told them as she strained to keep them up in the air. The spiky hair teen closed his eyes, drawing sand and stones to his keyblade and making a giant sword-like stone.

"Alright, once Rachel lets go, swing me as hard as you can," he told Courtney. She let out a sigh then nodded. The teen released her friends and the other swung with all her might.

"Sand saber," Thomas called out as he was swung like a sword. The heartless were taken down before they could turn around and absorb the attack.

"They won't be down for long," Courtney mentioned.

"We should use this time to attack," Rachel added as the teens landed on the ground. As for the safety part of the landing, I'll leave that for you to decide.

**TEAM COREY**

"Hey over here!" Corey shouted and waved his hands trying to draw the attention of the steamboat.

"Great distraction Corey," Manikha sighed as she slowly inched to the shore, trying not to be seen.

"What am I doing?" Corey thought to himself as he started dodging barrels. "I have fire power yet I'm not using it. Clearly I have made some bad decisions." The teen stopped in his tracks and lit the tip of his keyblade on fire. With just one swing, he started sending fireballs in retaliation. Sounds of explosions filled the air as the fire started colliding with the wood. Evidently, Corey has the upper hand in this battle. The claw retreated.

"That's what I thought," Corey smirked knowing that there was nothing that Pete could do to stop him or his plan now. Pete glared at Corey as he starting move more levers and pressing buttons from the control of the steamboat.

"Stupid Corey," Manikha kept thinking in her head as she got deeper and deeper in the water.

"_Listen up Manikha, I have a plan," Corey whispered as if he was going to get caught._

"_What kind of plan, exactly?" she wondered. She let out a sigh, the guys in the group are usually bad when it comes to formulating plans._

"_Since you're a water user, you can bring the boat back to the shore," he started._

"_That won't work again! He'll see me and attack before I get the chance," she complained._

"_That's why I will distract him," he reassured her._

"_I don't think this will work out that well."_

"_That's because you haven't heard my entire plan yet."_

"_Fine, what is your plan?"_

"_Simple really. While I'm distracting Pete you dive into the water and head under the boat," Corey started. _

"_You don't need to finish that thought, I understand exactly what you're saying," Manikha stopped him._ "The boat should be somewhere around here," she thought as she looked around. Turning her head upwards to see a rather large shadow. "Bingo!"

**TEAM THOMAS**

"And that takes care of all of them," Courtney stated as she dusted her hands. The teens looked around and let out a sigh of relief that no more heartless were going to poof out and attack them.

"So how much munny did you guys collect from all the battles?" Rachel asked trying to make conversation.

"A lot actually. I'm still surprised that they drop munny in the first place," Thomas told her.

"Not much, I mainly focused on the fighting aspect of our mission," Courtney confessed.

"So what do we do now?" Rachel asked.

"I'm not really sure. We can go down and help out Team Idiot, or stay here and wait for them to return with the stone," Thomas suggested.

"I vote for that second option," Courtney sighed as she plopped down on the ground.

"I second that motion," Rachel added as she laid down on the ground, resting after exerting so much energy.

**TEAM COREY**

A giant whirlpool began to surround the steamboat, causing Corey too smile. It seems that Manikha actually did her job.

"What is going on here?" Pete asked as he looked out the window to see what strange phenomenon was occurring.

"We won," Corey boasted. The whirlpool intensified and started to sink the boat in. Suddenly the water just stopped sending an eerie calmness throughout the area.

"Knock-up stream!" Manikha shouted as a pillar of water shot the boat up high into the sky. When the water dissipated, two shadows flew out from the boat and were sent flying in a familiar direction.

"Come on let's go," Corey told Manikha the moment she got out of the water.

**TEAM THOMAS**

"What are kids doing lying around here?" a deep voice called out stirring the teens from their rest. They quickly arose to their feet to see what they will encounter now. What they saw a fat dog like person. He was wearing some weird clothes to say they least. His shirt had straps that connect to his shoulder guards and pants. He had big gloves on, almost like he was a power fighter.

"Who are you?" the teens ask.

"Why I'm Pete. I am here to make sure the cornerstone is long gone," he told them. Suddenly he clasped his mouth, he wasn't suppose to speak about his mission.

"Don't try hiding it, the stone is long gone now," Courtney sighed as she told him.

"Really, I didn't screw this up?" he asked sounding pleased with himself.

"Hey, he came through the same door we did," Rachel whispered to Thomas.

"Yeah, he left it open too," he responded back to her.

"What are you kids mumbling about over there?" his booming voice scared the teens.

"Nothing, we just talking about what a fine good job you did," the spiky hair teen lied.

"Wait till Maleficent finds out. She'll be so pleased with me," Pete laughed.

"Great, another idiot," the teens shared the same thought. They were about to respond to the comment he just made, although they didn't have enough energy to fight back if a battle broke out.

"So what are you kids doing here?" the dog asked, realizing that what he should have done first.

"Nothing, just waiting for our friends so we can leave this world," the red-headed teen said.

"I see. Since you kids can travel between world you must be keybladers," he announced. No sooner than he declared her discovery he was flattened by another fat dog.

"What, there are two Petes?" Rachel gasped. With another loud bang the cornerstone returned to its resting place without so much as a scratch on it.

"Looks like our friends were able to do their job," Thomas commented noticing the unusual way it was done.

"Sorry it took so long," Corey shouted as he and Manikha came rushing up to the teens. Pete groaned and pushed Pete of the Past off of him.

"That's it, you kids are done. The portal is going to close soon and then no one will be able to escape. Well except for me because I can create my own passages," he laughed. Pete of the Past laid on the ground in a daze. It was anyone's guess as to whether he was conscious or not.

"Girls, use this chance to escape now. Leave Pete to Corey and me!" Thomas ordered. The girls stood there hesitantly. Should they really abandon their friends for their own safety? Manikha nodded her head, grabbed the other two girls by the arms and rushed to the closing door. Pete tried to intercept them, but Thomas managed to knock him out of the way in time. The door they came through closed.

"Now that the girls made it through, we can focus all our attention on taking you out," Corey declared.

"Oh so you're looking for a good old fashion showdown, am I right?" Pete asked intrigued by this out come.

"Things may have been a little rushed, but I'm up for a good fight," Corey smiled drawing out his blade.

"Things are getting interesting," Pete chuckled as he pulled out two cannonballs out from his pockets. "You're about to get a taste of my exploding balls!"

"I think you should have a doctor check that out," Thomas stated, trying to hold back a laugh.

Preview for chapter 18:

The girls make it back, only to find out that they will have to fight yet again. Meanwhile, the boys are left to deal with Pete. How will things turn out?


	18. Bad Girls!

Author's note: Sorry for the lack of updates. As I keep tell you guys, school gets in the way, and so do college applications and stuff. Plus there has been some friend drama. Sorry for the short chapter. Well please enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review after you read! Also since the holidays are coming up, I am going to write a special Christmas chapter.

**Chapter 18: Bad Girls!**

"How are you today my queen," Maleficent sneered as she bowed, showing respect. Minnie's eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what her game was.

"You have a lot of nerve showing up here!" Minnie stated gripping the arm of the throne.

"My, my, someone is sure on edge," the dark queen noticed.

"I wasn't so tense until you showed up," the queen said. "What are you doing here anyways?"

"I came to give you once last chance to surrender peacefully or I'll have to take you out by force."

"You know that will never happen!"

"I thought as much, but it never hurts to ask. Once again, please step down queen and I may let you escape with your life," Maleficent warned.

"Sorry, there's no way I'm moving from this spot," Minnie growled.

"Then die!" Maleficent pointed her rod at the queen. A giant dark green ball erupted from the want and exploded upon contact with the throne. The smoke dissipated faster than expected and the chair was empty.

"Now, now, let's not get nasty," Minnie laughed. Maleficent turned to see that the queen was standing behind her, unharmed. "Well not yet anyhow."

"I see the queen does have some fight in her. I must admit, I wasn't expecting this," the queen of darkness pondered.

"Do you really think that the king will leave the kingdom unprotected?" the queen of light asked her counter part.

"It is too late for resistance. I already have the cornerstone under my power, soon this castle will fall. This is your last chance to give up!" the witch monologued.

"You already know my stance on that," Minnie scolded.

"Then you leave me no choice," Maleficent smirked and gripped her staff. She shot another green energy ball at the queen. Only this time it was bigger and faster then the last. Minnie quickly put her hands together and formed a small pink ball of light and shot it at the imposing attack. The two attacks collided and cancelled each other out.

"Looks like we're evenly matched," Minnie grinned.

"You're lifetimes away from reaching my level," the witch informed the queen as she vanished. The mouse looked around the room, forming another sphere in her hands.

"I know you're around here somewhere, you won't catch me off guard!" the mouse declared.

"Oh is that so?" the witch's voice echoed throughout the throne room. A whooshing sound filled the room causing the queen to turn every which way.

"Got'cha!" both female voices cried as a shadowy claw appeared and swiped down and a pink light pillared from where the queen was standing.

**KH:E**

The door swung open and the three girls flew out, crashing into the wall. The slowly staggered to get up, trying to regain their composure.

"Stupid Manikha!" Courtney cursed trying to find the right words.

"I was just following orders," she defended herself.

"Now's not the time to argue!" Rachel scolded her friends.

"She's right you know, the queen's in the throne room right now and can use all the help she can get," Daisy told them as she emerged from the shadows.

"Why don't you go help her?" Manikha wondered.

"It's because I don't have any magical powers, so I'll just get in the way," she sighed and hung her head head in shame.

"Don't worry about her," Rachel cheered up the duck, "we tend to ignore what she says anyway."

"Hurry up losers!" Courtney shouted from atop the stairs.

"How did she get up there so fast?" the other girls thought.

**KH:E**

"You're better than I thought girly," Maleficent said trying to catch her breath. Minnie was breathing very hard, unable to calm herself down.

"I....I.... can't keep up with her," Minnie kept repeating in her head. "She has more experience than I do; a few more attacks and I'm done for."

"Don't tell me you're giving up already," Maleficent whined in a mocking manner, "and I was just starting to have fun too."

"Scatter," the queen waived her hand. Orbs emerged from her hands filling the air in the room.

"I've never seen such a desperate attempt to defend oneself," the witch pointed out. A small orb drifted her way and she poked it. It popped like a bubble. A light emerged and attack the popper. "That tickled," she laughed.

"Yes, individually they are weak," Minnie commented in her head.

"Here I come," the witch warned as she rushed forward to attack the queen, popping bubbles along the way. As each popped, lights emerged attaching themselves to the dark witch.

"Collectively on the other hand, it's a powerful attack," Minnie commented in her head.

"What is this?" the witch gasped.

"My divine net!" Minnie answered as Maleficent was enclosed in a pink net. "I win!" Maleficent vanished in a puff of green and black smoke. "I may not be a strong fighter, but I can more than hold my own!"

"Nice to know, but there's one thing your forgot to add," the witch voice laughed as she appeared behind the queen, knocking her across the room with her rod. "I win!" Minnie landed on the other side with a huge crash. Maleficent quickly went to where the queen was lying, injured and unable to defend herself. The queen struggled to get up, but couldn't manage.

"You witch," she cursed, not knowing what else to do.

"You had your chance to go peaceful, but you put up a useless resistance; now you must suffer the consequences!" Maleficent informed her in a deep tone of voice. She raised her staff as high as she could. "See you in the next life your Majesty!" Sparks started to form around the tip of her rod.

"Witch Zapper!" a stern female voice shouted as a huge lighting bolt came from the heavens and shocked the queen of darkness, stunning her for a few seconds.

"You couldn't come up with a better name?" one of the female voices asked.

"No, not on that short of a notice," the attacker explained.

"Let's not have this conversation right now," the third female voice instructed her friends.

"Who is interrupting our fight now?" the witch wondered, turning to the doorway. She saw three peculiar objects glistening from the after lights of all the attacks. "Keybladers? No, even worse, teenagers." The duck that was with the group rushed to the side of the queen to lend her support. The witch looked over, then glanced at the teen, losing all interest in her original plans.

"Give up now because we're here to stop you. You vile fiend!" the timid female voice declared.

"Don't say something like that Manikha; we're not super heroes," the stern voice scolded.

"What did I just finish saying?" the third voice asked.

"Sorry," the two other teen sighed.

"Enough of this messing around, tell me who you are!" the witch demanded. The three girls looked at each other and smiled.

"I'm Rachel!" the red headed girl walked to the middle area of both sides and struck a pose. She put one hand on her hip and pointed her keyblade in the sky.

"I'm Courtney," the sassy female walked over the the right side of Rachel and folded her arms, with the keyblade hanging down. That's all the posing she going to do.

"I'm Manikha," the timed girl went to the right. She laid her keyblade on the ground and keeled, holding both of her arms out like she was presenting Rachel.

"Together we're RMC!" they presented themselves.

"Next time we've got to unify the poses," Rachel informed her teammates. (AN: To all those people who were wondering why this was brought in, I want to let you know it is a reference to Final Fantasy X-2. I recently got a message asking if I was going to make one since I have three females in a team. Well I wasn't planning to but since this one fan was so persistent in me making one, I did. It was weird and I might not do it again, so enjoy this bit of randomness.)

"What are keyblade wielders doing here? I thought Pete took care of you all," she gasped.

**KH:E**

**Meanwhile in the Timeless River:**

"Why are you guys laughing at me? My exploding balls are something to be taken seriously!" Pete inquired, determined to know. Thomas and Corey couldn't stop laughing. Sure they knew it was dirty, stupid, and wrong, but since Pete didn't know the context, it was so much funnier. Pete of the Past looked as confused as his future counterpart.

"Sorry," Thomas laughed trying to regain his composure.

"We'll get serious now," Corey told his enemy.

"Good, you're about to experience the fear that comes with my exploding balls," Pete declared, the two teen could help but laugh again. "I might have stumbled upon something here." Pete reached into his pockets and pulled out two cannon balls. With a mighty swing, he chunked them at his opponents. They exploded upon impact, fogging up the whole area. When the dust cleared the teens appeared unharmed and un-fazed.

"Wow, that wasn't as powerful as you bragged," Corey mocked.

"Yeah, it was a waste for me to expel my energy, shielding us from it," Thomas stated.

"Those must have been dudes," the future dog panicked and reached into his pocket.

"Great, he's attacking again," the spiky headed teen sighed, preparing his keyblade to block the attacks.

"Alright, cover me for an attack," the leader requested. His partner nodded his head.

"Take this, bombardment barrage!" Pete shouted as he launched ball after ball at the teens. Explosions filled the air, and Pete of the Past left the field of battle to hide.

"Some support character he is," Corey mentioned. The cannonballs kept hitting the stone wall Thomas created to protect them.

"After the last ball, I'll lower the shield and you go for the attack," the teen instructed his leader. Thomas still don't know how Corey became it. The bombardment continued for a few more minutes until Pete had to stop to catch his breath. In a blink of an eye the wall lowered and Corey jumped out from behind it, spinning the blade in his hand. With a swing, the brown hair teen hit Pete smack dab in the forehead, knocking him flat on his back.

"That should keep him out of our hair for a while," Corey sighed as his blade vanished.

"Look, something is happing to the cornerstone," Thomas pointed out as he went to his friend's side.

**KH:E**

"Pete is no match for our friends!" the girls yelled at the witch, causing her to flinch a little.

"I can actually believe that," Maleficent sighed, "he is an incompetent moron."

"Why are you talking about your teammate like that?" Manikha asked.

"He is not a teammate, more like an underling; easily replaceable," she answered with a wicked tongue.

"Trust me lady, I know how you feel," Courtney sympathized. A strange light started to envelope the area, washing away the darkness that was once filled the castle.

"See, I knew our guys wouldn't fail us," Rachel smiled with hope.

"Evidently not fast enough," Manikha commented.

"Do you have to complain about everything?" Courtney asked.

"See Maleficent, the keybladers will always bring forth the light!" Minnie called out as she walked over to the field of battle, almost completely recovered.

"There's no way darkness will take over," Daisy added.

"You can take this as a small victory, but I will be the victor in the end. I'm heading to my castle. Farewell warriors of light. I hope you live long enough for me to take you down," the witch laughed and vanished.

"Thanks for the help," the queen bowed.

"It's no problem, we have a common enemy," Courtney stated, trying to hide her true feelings.

"If there's anything we can do to help, please let us know," Daisy told them.

"Well you can help us bring the guys back," Rachel said, taking the offer.

"What do you mean," the royal girls questioned.

"Come with us and you will see," Rachel stated as she lead everyone down to the doorway.

Preview for chapter 19:

The girls must rescue the guys before they are trapped in the world forever. Will they make it in time? Also, what is Maleficent's real plan?


	19. Capriccio!

Author Note: I am a liar. I was going to write a holiday special, but halfway through it started going downhill. The plot I built up dramatically changed, it didn't make sense, all in all, it was just a disaster. For those of you who are wondering, it was called "Manikha Saves Christmas! (No, really. I'm shocked too.)" It would take place at the North Pole from the "Santa Clause 3" movie. After all, Jack Frost is the only major villain in any of the movies to actually fight. Well enjoy this chapter! Please review after you read, otherwise Courtney may have to kick another cute animal. Sorry for the short chapter.

**Chapter 19: Capriccio!**

The Queen, wielders of the keys, the duck princess, and the wizard all looked on the door with horror on their face. The portal to the timeless river was locked, and closed forever. Even the doorknob wouldn't even turn an inch.

"What do we do?" the girls asked not knowing where to go from here.

"I'm afraid I don't know. This never happened before," the queen honestly stated.

"Maybe Merlin's magic could help out here," quacked the duck.

"I regret to tell you that it's no use," sighed the wizard. "I tired just about everything in my magic arsenal to open that door, but alas it was no use."

"I can't believe they're stuck there," the sassy teen sighed as a feeling of hopelessness filled the small basement light room.

"At least the cornerstone in safe a secure," the ever so positive Manikha pointed out.

"Yeah," the preppy-ish one smirked, "it is kind of a good feeling that they sacrificed themselves to save us." Tears started to form in the eyes of the 'chosen ones' knowing that their mission will be that much harder.

"Cheer up girls, I'm sure everything will turn out alright," the queen reassured the sad girls. It was as if her words were magic, a small click was heard and the door slowly swung open. A bright light escaped from the open door and two shadow quietly walked walked through.

"Hey girls, miss us?" a familiar male voice asked them.

"Always have to make an entrance don't you?" another familiar voice asked the first.

"Your okay!" the girls cheered as the quickly hugged their male teammates, then quickly removed themselves and acted as nothing has happened.

"I don't mean to ruin this rare sentimental moment," the queen interjected, "but how did you manage to come through the door. It was locked. Even the color was faded to the point where it would open."

"Easy," Corky smirked. Thomas let out a smile as well.

"We used the **key**blade," the spiky hair teen explained making sure to place emphasis on the 'key' part.

"I understand completely, but I think you might need to explain it to your friends," Daisy chuckled. Needless to say that we all know that she had no idea what they meant. Thomas sighed as he started to tell the tale of their escape.

_"Ho-ho!" a squeaky laugh was heard near the cornerstone. Thomas and Corey quickly stood up from where they were sitting and turned to the stone. Standing in front of it was a small, mouse like man. He had big round ears and wore gray shorts with white buttons. _

"_Ah, this is the perfect place to erect a castle," the mouse squeaked._

"_Excuse me," Corey stuttered, trying to get the stranger's attention._

"_What can I do for you?" he asked turning around. He was so positive in his reply, it seemed like he would be happy to help anybody do anything. _

"_Well your majesty," the corky kid mumbled, beating around the bush._

"_Mr. Mouse," Thomas sighed as his partner was acting like an idiot, "we were wondering if you can help us out."_

"_Sure thing, but please stop being so formal with me. I don't even know why your addressing me as 'you majesty' anyways," the mouse responded._

"_That's right, we're from the future, there's a lot of history that hasn't happened yet," Corey thought the obvious. _

"_Then what should we call you?" was the question that was on everyone's face. An expression the king could so clearly read._

"_Call me Mickey," the mouse introduced himself._

"_Are you sure?" Corey questioned._

"_I prefer Mr. Mouse and Ears," the spiky hair teen smiled. The sad part is, he was being dead serious. Micky on the other hand, didn't seem to care for this much, and this is coming from the guy who usually doesn't care what people call him._

"_Well what do you need help with?" the future king asked the teens._

"_We need to open that door to go back to our world," the leader plead their plight._

"_Oh I can help you with that. Although, before you do, what is that in your hand?" the mouse wondered._

"_You mean the keyblade?" the shaggy hair kid asked._

"_Yes, now separate it into two words," he instructed. _

"_Key blade?" the other teen male questioned._

"_Good, now say the first part," was the second instruction from the mouse._

"_Key?" Corey wonder where he was going with._

"_Now what do you open with a key?" the mouse asked, giving the most obvious hint to the solution as he could._

"_Locks?" Thomas inquired._

"_Yes! Now what has a lock?" the mouse egged the solution to them._

"_Chest?"_

"_Draws?"_

"_Phones?"_

"_Elevators?" The king sighed at this response._

"_Oh," Thomas chimed in as he figured it out, "doors."_

"_Exactly. You see, your keyblades have the powers to lock and unlock just about every door and everything that has a lock on it. There a few things in this or any world that cannot be opened by your blades," Mickey explained._

"_Why didn't we think of this sooner?" the two teen let out a sigh of depression. _

"_It okay, I had my blade for a year before I realized that I could do that," the mouse laughed. The two teens pointed their blades at the door. In a strange beam of light that emerged from the two weapons, the door swung open, but instantly started to close slowly._

"_Now that my work here is done, I have a date with a really lovely lady," he informed them._

"_He must mean the queen," Corey commen__d while stating the obvious._

"_Thanks Mr. Mouse and Ears! Make sure to use protection!" Thomas thanked as the two teens went through the light and the door closed behind them. _

"_Protection?" a dumbfounded Mickey thought as he summoned his Star Seeker keyblade._

"That explains why he brought out his keyblade on our first date," Minnie chuckled as she learned the reasoning behind it.

"Yeah, because those heartless are everywhere," Thomas sarcastically remarked. It seemed that his friends were the only ones who understood this joke since they busted out laughing. A few minutes had pasted by and the crew said their goodbyes and parted ways.

"So we're heading back to Radiant Garden?" the group asked Corey.

"Yeah. Merlin told us that there was some dark trouble brewing and our assistance may be needed," their leader informed them.

"Alright, I'll set a course there right away," the spiky hair teen stated as he started the ship. Not soon after they left the world behind and were calmly flying to their destination.

"Well, we have about half a day's worth of time before we get there, what do we do with all this time?" Thomas asked, not wanting to be bored out of his mind.

"That is a good question," Courtney agreed.

"How about a game?" Manikha asked, holding a deck of cards.

A couple of hours passed. The five friends were sitting around a round table playing a card game. There were a quite a few cards piled in the middle while every one had a few cards in their hands as well.

"Three sevens," Corey plainly stated as he placed three cards down on the table.

"Two eights," Rachel giggled as she set down her cards.

"Bull," Manikha called her out. Rachel flipped the cards reveling that she had placed two eights indeed.

"Pick up the pile loser!" Courtney laughed at her friend's misfortune.

"I hate this game," she sighed.

"Five nines," Thomas smirked as he placed five cards down in the middle of the table.

"three tens," Courtney piled on top of the cards.

"Really? You call me out when I place two cards, but Thomas is obviously not telling the truth and we're okay with this?" Rachel ranted. Before anyone could respond to her, a loud buzzing noise starting coming from the control panel of the ship.

"Incoming call," Manikha stated as she took her turn. Thomas sighed as he got up. He knew no one would go get it. After he quickly pressed a few buttons, Cid's face filled the main windshield.

"You there boy?" his rugged voice asked.

"We're all here sensei, what do you need?" he asked.

"Your help. Right now wave after wave of heartless are attacking us. Up to now we have barely managed to hold them off using the claymores and our own defense forces, but they keep coming one right after another. Not only that, they also come with stronger levels of heartless and even greater numbers than before. I don't know how much longer we can hold out," Cid sighed. (A lot of people are doing that lately.) Thomas could tell that the stress was jumbling Cid's speech.

"Don't worry, we're on our way there as it is. Sadly, we still have a few hours to go until we get there," Thomas informed him with the whole team nodding on in agreement.

"So, I take it you haven't been playing with your ship much," the blond male inquired.

"Not really," the teen confessed.

"Well everyone take your seats and buckle up!" Cid ordered. Without a moment's hesitation, the teens all took their assigned seats.

"I bet you filled this ship with tons of fun stuff and didn't tell me about it. Huh sensei?" Thomas asked.

"That's right. I told you to figure it out for yourself! Now press the double zero button on the steering wheel," Cid instructed with Thomas following orders. A light lid up and a metal sound was heard.

"You just deployed the two external thrusters. It will get you here in about an hour, but it'll use a lot of fuel," he informed them.

"Oh no. That means all of us will have to smile the whole way," Courtney cried.

"That is correct little Missy. Now press the two red buttons that are on top of the handles once I end this message. A novice like you will need to clearly see everything," Cid laughed and closed the chat window. Nervously Thomas pressed the buttons causing the speed of the ship to increase at least 64 fold.

"He never told me how to stop," echoed throughout Thomas' mind as he tried his best to control the ship.

Preview for Chapter 20:

The gang arrives just in time to help with the heartless invasion, but with Maleficent out on the front lines, things become more trouble than what they're worth.


	20. Oratorio!

Author's note: This was suppose to be the last chapter of the new year, but I didn't have time to finish writing it, considering I was no where near my computer. The story is already far behind schedule considering it was suppose to finish its run a while back. Since I didn't do the chapter a week like I originally planned (school got in the way), it been dragged out, quite a while. Well please enjoy this rather fast paced chapter. Don't forget to review after you read.

**Chapter 20: Oratorio!**

Coming close to the world, Radiant Gardens, the ship starts to lose momentum and speed as it draws closer to the gravitational pull.

"Who's not smiling," the pilot asked, trying hard to maintain his smile. It was stupid that the ship ran on smiles rather than fuel, something he will have to talk to Cid about later, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He contemplated about putting the ship on auto-pilot but being this close to a world would put all their lives in jeopardy.

"Not me," smirked the sassy team member, "I quit smiling a while ago."

"I blame Manikha," the semi-preppy member of the team plainly stated. She still had her smile plastered across her face.

"I second that motion," the oh so mighty leader added. Sadly, he didn't have a smile.

"I reject!" the girl who everyone blamed protested. Evidently she actually smiled, which shocked everyone.

"Fine, I will just fly us to our certain deaths since our friends don't seem to care about anything," the pilot sighed.

"Kill us later," Rachel told Thomas who wasn't paying attention to the mini map that displayed the near by world, "look at this!" Everyone turned their attention to the map that was displayed. Being too small for everyone to get a good look, Thomas pressed a few buttons and brought it on the main window/screen. What they saw shocked them. The whole world was laid out in front of them. Giant red circles filled most of the town.

"From the looks of it, only the market place is safe from the heartless," Courtney pointed out. Literally, she pointed it out.

"This big, bright red area over here is Maleficent castle," Manikha commented as she pointed. "It seems to be the area where the heartless are most condensed."

"What does that mean?" Rachel sarcastically asked.

"Either one of two things," she respond, either ignoring the sarcasm or didn't catch it, "that they are surrounded the castle, sort of like a rally of sorts, or that is where they are coming from." Everyone looked at her, astonished that she actually made logical sense.

"Well we can't just fly over there," Corey stated, pondering their course of action.

"So what should we do, _leader?_" Thomas asked, minimizing the map so he could see where he was flying. Corey shuddered being called leader. For some reason, it didn't feel right.

"Well, we can get off outside of the market place, and make a mad dash to the castle," he suggested.

"I thought that the castle wasn't used anymore. Last time we where there, Aerith told us that it was abandoned," Rachel shared.

"Well, power magic is bound to linger," Thomas chimed.

"That good and all, but let's get back to the plan," Courtney sighed, obviously hating being the voice of reason.

"Can you bring up the map again Thomas?" Corey asked the teen piloting the ship. He got a dirty look as a response.

"I think that mean he need to see where he flying," Manikha tried to translate.

"Fine, once we leave the market place, we're bound to be ambushed by heartless, make sure your armed and ready. This mean use potions if you need to, Manikha!" Corey glared as she shrugged. "I also hate to say this, but we cannot lend aid to those that are fighting, since heading to the castle takes top priority. Does everyone understand this?" he asked in a firmed but uncertain voice. Everyone looked away, which gave their answer. He asked the question again, but this time everyone monotonous answered yes.

"I wonder how everyone is handling the situation," Manikha stated as the group went to their seats and buckled up.

"We will know soon enough, right now though, we have to prepare for landing," Thomas instructed.

…

"Get away from me!" a small, raven hair girl screamed as she was running away from a group of lengthy Gigas shadows (normal shadow heartless, only human size). Her almost knee length Convers pounded the pavement as she quickly ran for her life. Seeming to know a little bit about the threat the monsters presented, she jumped to an elevated area. The enemies quickly surrounded her but she paid them no mind. Swiftly putting her two hands together, she vanished in a stack of smoke. The heartless looked around to see where she disappeared to but they didn't move from their spot. She appeared in the air a few feet away, hold a giant, four pointed, steel star. With a mighty swing, she threw the weapon with all her might, making a clean sweep of her adversaries.

"That is why the call me the great ninja Yuffie!" she boasted. (AN: No one calls her that or even likes her. Sorry if I offend the few people who tolerate her.) Her victory was short lived as clouds of darkness appeared.

"What do you want from me," a girl with brown hair tied back and braided asked. Her red and pink dress flowed in the gentle breeze of the wind. The group of heartless that were attacking her were soldiers. They floated in place staring the girl down, until they started to shake violently and launched themselves at her. With the beauty and elegance of a flower, she managed to dodge them all and the heartless glided back to their original place. The girl let out a sigh of relief, but knew that she wasn't out of the water quite yet. Slowly she started to step back, creeping away from the enemies.

"Uh-oh," she gasped as she hit a wall. The heartless saw this and decided to use the cornered girl to their advantage. She lifted up her pink dress and pulled out three small red rods. The heartless started to shake violently again, preparing to attack. She extended the rod out and connected them together moments before a small number of soldiers flung themselves at her. With a mighty spin of the bo-staff in her hand, she fended off the attacks and knocked them into oblivion.

"It's tough being so cute and strong," Aerith giggled. Normally, she is reserved as a healer in her group, but when the times call for it, she can more than hold her own.

Outside of Merlin's house, giant books were flying everywhere, making a certain spiky blond hair guy nervous.

"Leave this area you damn pest!" the possibly old man shouted. "This is one of the many reasons why I don't read books!" A laughing sound could be heard as the books slightly ajar. Not taking any chances, he quickly pulled out a long, silver sphere. He held it up high in the air and swung it. When it struck the ground, an explosion erupted sending the orange sash male flying into the sky. The Bookmasters opened all the way to see what was going on with their opponent. As he was flying, he started spinning his sphere above his head, preparing to attack. Normally heartless don't show any emotion, but in this case, you could see fear in their lifeless eyes. The Bookmasters started to swarm around, trying to find a place, but flew around in circles, confused by the chaos. With a quick movement of his hand, the middle age man adjusted the sphere to be pointing to the ground.

"Sliver ray!" he declared as he landed on the ground. The attack filled an area with a giant silver sphere. When the light faded away, all the heartless were gone. The only thing that was left, was a cluster of hearts floating to the sky.

"That'll teach you to mess with me punks!" Cid laughed as dark clouds appeared in the area.

"This looks promising," smirked a long, raven hair woman who was staring down an Infernal Engine. From the looks of it, the heartless was just a giant red box, with glowing yellow eyes, yellow zigzag mouth, tank-like wheels on the side, and driven by three unknown heartless at the top. It would be one thing if this was a one on one fight, but it wasn't. In fact, she happened to be surrounded by a dozen of these heartless.

"Gaining up on a helpless girl?" she remarked, "Shame on you!" An engine like roar was emitting from these foul beast. "Good thing I like a challenge!" With a loud blast, cannon balls were fired. She quickly jumped into the air, flipped, and landed on top of one of the heartless. She quickly ducked behind the drivers before they could notice her. She extended out her arms, grabbing the heads of the heartless at the end, she slammed their heads together. They poof away in a flash of light. Still having to deal with the actual heartless, she lifted her leg straight up. Using her remaining foot, she lightly jumped up and on her decent, slammed her leg into the box like body of her enemy. When she flipped off the monster, it looked like a crushed can.

"Here I thought I might actually have a challenge on my hand," Tifa sighed as she brushed her hair out of her face.

Near the entrance way to Maleficent's castle, a hodgepodge of mixed heartless surround two people. The first one is a male with spiky blond hair, holding a sword almost as long as his body. He was wearing all black and had a little armor padding on. On the other hand, the other male had brown medium-length brown hair, that could be considered slick back. He was wearing mostly blue, except for his white shirt under his flame jacket, that had an ungodly amount of buckles and straps that were randomly all over his outfit. He too had a long sword, only his had a gun base, and wasn't quite as long as his partner's.

"Looks like we've gotten ourselves into quite a mess," the blond male commented as they were surrounded and out numbered.

"You're telling me," the other male responded. "How many do you think there are?"

"Probably hundreds. Want to split them equally?"

"If that's possible."

"So what if one more comes along the way?"

"That just one more I have to beat. Since I know you can't handle it," the brunette stated. Leon and Cloud both smirked at that remark and began to attack the heartless that were assaulting them.

…

"Hold on tight!" Thomas demanded as the started to land. They couldn't get enough "fuel" in time to power their ship. Using what little they had, they managed to land the ship without crashing, which Thomas was grateful for. After all, it was his ship. As they exited the ship, the immediately began to ran into the market place. According to Corey, it would be the fastest route.

"_As soon as we land, we have to head directly to the market place," Corey said point to the only not red spot on the map._

"_Well that is a given, but why? Maleficent's castle is nowhere near there," Manikha so kindly pointed out._

"_She's right," Courtney surprisingly backed her up, "it's on the other side of the world from there."_

"_True," Corey nodded as he grabbed a pen from under the screen the map was on. "As we know our ship can't land there, right?"_

"_Roger that," Thomas sarcastically answered. _

"_We still have to do all that running, and fighting just to reach there," Rachel remarked as she looked at the map. _

"_Another good point, but there is one thing we're over looking," he stated then cleared his throat. _

"_Wait, Merlin's house in near the market place," Thomas gasped as he realized he forgot this fact._

"_Ah, your characteristic usefulness precedes you," Corey complimented._

"_That's right," Rachel sparked up from what Thomas said. "There is a path to the castle from there!"_

"_Bingo," Corey declared as he started to draw on the map. With a swift movement he drew a direct route from the market place to the castle. The green line passed through some bright red places._

"_There one problem with this plan though," Courtney discovered._

"_I'm aware of that fact," Corey sighed._

"_Which fact? The one where we have to cross through areas where the heartless count is highly dense?" Manikha asked, not knowing that she had just answered her own question._

"_So what happens if only of use falls behind the others?" Rachel dared to ask._

"_I hate to say it, but in this situation, we will have to leave our dear friends behind on the battlefield," he regretfully answered. They understood completely. In despite times like these, sacrifices had to be made. After all, time was of the essence, and Maleficent need to be stopped, no matter the cost. _

"Okay everyone, draw your blades!" Corey shouted as they exited the marketplace and began en route to the castle. It was as if Corey was psychic, the moment they left the safe zone, they were ambushed by countless heartless. It seemed like for everyone that they destroyed, two more took its place. Yuffie was the first to rush to their aid and told them to head to the castle while she dealt with the heartless. Soon after, Aerith, Tifa, Cid, even Leon and Cloud told them to just head straight to the castle and ignore the heartless.

They entered the area of the castle only to find it the whole area empty and deserted. They looked around and only saw what looks to be like a dried up castle.

"Whoa, it looks like a ghost town," the clueless girl of the group commented at its emptiness.

"I don't understand why there's nothing here; the map showed that there was over a thousand heartless here," Rachel mentioned.

"Don't you mean it's over 9000?" the spiky hair teen had to asked, knowing that this joke wasn't intentionally set up. The group lightly chuckled, knowing that this wasn't the time for jokes.

"Something is off here," the sassy member told them.

"So I'm not the only one who has an ominous feeling," the leader said.

"Of course not. After all, I know that there is something here," Rachel reassured their bad feelings.

"What could be here though?" Thomas wondered. It had to be something big and powerful if it made a dense red area by itself.

"That," Manikha pointed to a shadowy figure that was slowly walking towards them.

"No," Courtney gasped as she recognized the figure.

"Is that him?" Thomas asked her. She nodded. The shadow walked closer and closer to them until it stood only a few feet away. It looked like a person, except a dark gray, almost black color. It had shorts, a t-shirt, with another over shirt that looked like a short sleeve jacked on top. It had gloves on the hands, and shoes on the feet. You could tell it was a heartless by the glowing yellow eyes.

"Sora?" Courtney and Thomas asked the heartless together. It shook it head no as shadows emerged from one of its hands.

"How do you guys know Sora?" Corey asked. Apparently everyone at least heard of Sora at one point in time. After all, these kids are from the islands.

"He's a kid who used to visit us on our island," Courtney explained. There was no time to go into any greater detail since the shadow solidified into a black version of the Kingdom Key.

"I think it intends to fight us," someone stated. It hard to determine who considering the foe shot at them like a jet black arrow the moment someone mouth opened. Lucky for the teens however, they managed to dodge it.

"What speed," Corey commented as he landed on the ground dodging that attack. The Sora appeared next to Corey. It raised its blade execution style, but was unable to swing down, due to a sand-like snake holding back it's arms.

"You should watch out!" Thomas panted. The heartless Sora was stronger than it appeared. Corey rolled out of the way just as it broke the grip of the sand.

"What do we do guys? We never..." Manikha stated to say but was cut off as the heartless appeared before her. She didn't have time to draw her blade to defend herself as a dark bolt from the Sora sent Manikha flying across the field. She landed a couple dozen yards away with a loud dust. When the dust cloud faded she was struggling to get up. It seems that she was no longer useful to this battle. The heartless Sora slowly turned it head to the next person in its line of sight, Courtney.

"We've got to help her!" Rachel shouted to her teammates who nodded in agreement.

"They're too far away," Corey noticed. What they didn't notice is when the Sora put so much distance between.

"Let's dance," Courtney egged the heartless on. It swung it head from side to side, popping it's neck and arms in the process. The girl smirked. The heartless shot itself at the sassy girl, who managed to parry most of its swings. What she could counter, she blocked, showing she had more skills than Manikha. The Sora backed off a little. Courtney being smart, managed to put some distance between them. The fiend, not liking this, rushed straight at her.

"Charge beam!" she called as she pointed her keyblade at the heartless and fired a beam of electricity at the enemy. The beam landed a direct blow to the heartless' chest, knocking it back and somehow lifting it up into the air. Slowly it drifted in the sky, unable to do much since it was ground-based battler.

"Ready?" Rachel asked pointing her blade at Corey.

"Not yet," he replied back to her.

"You have to go now, otherwise the calculations won't work!" Thomas scolded.

"Now," Corey jumped. Rachel swung her blade, sending a gust of wind allowing Corey to temporarily fly. He lifted his keyblade above his head, where a flame appeared on the very tip.

"Meteor mash," he called while swinging his blade down. Just that moment, the Sora flew by him and the blade made contact with the body. The moment they touched, the heartless erupted into flames and was sent hurtling to the earth as a giant fireball. It crashed into the ground leaving a giant crater in its wake.

"That should do it," Corey stated as he landed on the ground. When the smoke cleared, the heartless Sora emerged from the hole, seemingly unscratched. Courtney and Manikha quickly joined the rest of the party to see this tough foe had come back for more.

"Oh, it's on now! The gauntlet is thrown!" Thomas shouted, preparing to attack the heartless. The Sora continued to walk towards them, but the moment it got close, it just walked passed them.

"Ah I see you welcomed our guest properly," a bone chilling voice applauded the heartless.

"Maleficent!" the group acknowledged.

"Why would you expose yourself to use like this? It's just not a good tactic of war on your part." was the first question to be asked by none other than Thomas.

"What do you mean my child?" she asked.

"Well we do have you out numbered, and the enemy leader never shows themselves on the front line, unless they absolutely know they are going to win. Also, don't call me your child, it is really creepy," the teen explained his reasoning.

"You make a very valid point, but I can guarantee my victory," she laughed, causing the heroes to tightly grip their blades.

"That still doesn't tell us why you decided to show yourself. After all, I bet you have a heartless powerful enough to destroy us in one blow," Manikha bluntly stated.

"Well if you want me to be honest with you, I did it out of pity," the witch laughed.

"Pity?" Rachel mouthed.

"Yes. You pesky little brats worked so hard to get here, and gave your best effort when fighting a weak heartless like this Sora replica, I decided to come out myself and face you guys," the witch answered in a mocking tone.

"You are actually giving us a chance to gang up, knowing there a small chance that we might actually win?" Courtney asked, thrown off by the vile woman's logic.

"I smell something fishy here," Corey thought to himself. "Why would the queen of darkness show herself to the people who have the power to destroy her? We're not that strong yet, she could probably wipe us out with one or two of her heartless. She didn't even engage us in battle at all. Her guard is down and she even talking very casually to us. Something is up."

"I'm giving you a fighting chance, don't blow it," she smiled. With a swift swing, Thomas struck Maleficent across the face.

"Guys, use this chance to run! We don't have the power to defeat her yet!" he implored to his friends. He knew she was up to something, and was willing to sacrifice himself to save them. "Don't bother thinking about fighting with me. Run and save yourselves!" The teens hesitated but started to slowly run off. They kept their heads turned, so they can keep watching Thomas.

"Fool!" the witch crackled. She reached out and grabbed the spiky hair punk by the neck and lifted him off the ground. "You should have used the most powerful attack you have on me. Instead you use the free blow to slap me. I will destroy you first!" she monologued as the gem in her staff started to glow.

"It was worth it," he smiled. In a blink of an eye, Thomas vanished in green in black smoke.

"Thomas!" his friends cried out as they had just seen one of their very close friends vanish into thin air. What worse, is that the witch disappeared too. The teens had enough problems trying to escape to worry about the fate of their fallen friend.

"Where do you think you're going?" the witch asked, appearing in front of the fleeing teens.

"Scatter, I'll stall her," the sassy girl ordered.

"No," Corey protested but she shot him a dirty look. They knew better than to argue. Although, instead of scattering, they all ran in the same direction but not close together.

"Thunder," Courtney cried as a bolt of electricity shot down from the sky and struck the evil witch.

"That tickled," Maleficent chuckled. "A wool sweater generates more static than that." Courtney's eyes widened, knowing that she had no power to even make a scratch. The witch waved her hand and Courtney vanished in black and green smoke just like her friend before.

"Courtney!" Rachel cried.

"You should worry about yourself," the witch warned her as she appeared right next to the windy girl.

"Corey, you and Manikha should hurry up," Rachel told them. They knew better to protest, after all, one of them must survive this ordeal.

"Make it painless," Rachel pleaded. Maleficent smirked as she knew that this girl has came to her senses. She placed a finger on Rachel's forehead, vanishing her in the trademark green and black smoke.

"Rachel!" the remaining teens cried out. Losing three friends in one day is tough for anyone to handle.

"I wonder who's next," Manikha said, trying to hold back her tears.

"Don't think that, as long as we can make it back to Thomas' ship, we can figure something out," Corey tried to reassure her.

"Touching, really. You guys think you can escape?" the witch mocked as she appeared next to Manikha, who was only a few feet from Corey.

"If you were going on a journey, where would you like to go most?" Maleficent questioned as she reached out to touch the scrawny member of the team.

"Corey!" Manikha cried and reached out for her last friend. Corey tried to grab her hand just as Maleficent placed hers on Manikha. Just as Corey's hand was about about to grab Manikha's, she vanished in the standard smoke. Corey collapsed on the ground and the sun was setting in the distance.

"Why?" Corey cried as he continually slammed his fists into the ground. The tears streamed down his eyes, he didn't know what to do. He wasn't strong enough to fight, he could escape, so the only choice he had was to die like all his other friends. "Why did you have to take all my friends away?"

"You guys are too much of a threat to me when all of you are together. So I had to get rid of the problem. Farewell, may we never meet again!" She placed her hand on Corey's head and with an explosion of green and black smoke, Corey had vanished.

Radiant Garden

Maleficent's Heartless Invasion

Today is the Day That Those Who Wield the Keyblade Had Fallen


	21. Aloha!

Author's note: I'm such a bad person. School get in the way and I don't have time for writing, well except the required writing for English class. Sorry for the long delay of not updating. Things come up with school and life and its hard to balance all that out along with my story. Please forgive me. I have not given up on writing this story. So, please enjoy and review after you read.

**Until We Meet Again Arc:**

**Chapter 21: Aloha!**

The sun was shining brightly over the beach. The sand glittered as it basked in the light from the rays emitting from the sun. The waves danced as they hit the shore. With each wave that hit, the water sparkled. A gentle breeze blew, rustling the tree as it came and went. The people who were on the beach were enjoying this fine summer day.

"Get the frisbee!" shouted a little girl wearing a green dress, decorated with lighter green leaves. As she tossed the disk; her black hair, which complimented her tan skin, flew in her face. A blue dog-like creature saw the disk pass by and he soon followed. The girl must have tossed the disk well since it soared straight into a woods-like palm tree forest. With a light smack the disk hit the tree with the strange creature following suit. After regaining composure him picked up the disk with his hand when a strange smell caught his attention. His nostrils flared with each whiff as he soon followed to see where the scent was taking him. He ran as fast as he can and came across a strange crown like crater. With one look he panicked and fled the scene.

The strange dog soon returned with the little girl at his side. The girl gazed upon the crater with amazement and confusion. She looked in the mysterious hole and gasped at her discovery. There, passed out was a young male with ruffed up brown hair, tattered blue clothing, and a strange weapon in his hand. The dog sniffed and crawled into the crater. He touched the strange blade, but the moment he did, it vanished in a burst of light.

"Stitch, grab him and let's head on home," the little girl ordered, "Nani will know what to do." The blue animal nodded its head, understanding perfectly. With a big chomp, the dog-like thing grabbed the teen's shirt and started pulling him out. The now worried little girl led the way, with the dog dragging the teen, followed along the way.

"Found you 626," a vindictive voice laughed from the shadows.

_"No! My friends! What did you do to them?" Corey's voice echoed out in pain. A evil crackle was heard, but it was unable to mask the sound of tears streaming down the young teen's face, and the drops that fell to the ground._

"_Don't worry, they're still pretty much alive," the witch mocked, "but you won't see them ever again!" Enraged, the male teen rose to his feet and grabbed the witch by the folds of her cloaks, tears still streaming down his face. "You brats got in my way for the very last time! Now rest in peace; our paths will never cross again!" With the swift movement of her wrinkly hand, Corey the last keyblade user, vanished in a puff of green and black smoke._

"You okay," a gentle female voice asked. Corey's eyes slowly opened and he saw a tanned woman with long black hair removing a damp wash cloth from his head and dunk it in a bowl of water.

"I think so," he lied. His body was sore all over and the slightest moment would probably trigger all the pain all over again.

"I would hope so. After all, not many people wake up screaming or talking in their sleep," the female calmly said as she replaced the cloth on his forehead.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did I get here?" he asked.

"Well Lilo and that thing she calls a dog brought you here three days ago, claiming that they found you in some weird crater. I noticed that you were bruised up and had a pretty high fever so I allowed you to stay here and tried my best to take care of you," the woman explained. It took a while for Corey to register exactly what she said.

"Wait, I was knocked out for three days?" Corey question, finally getting a grasp of what was going on.

"Pretty much. What happened that caused you to be so beat up?" she calmly asked.

"It's a long story. One I doubt that you will believe," he answered truthfully.

"I understand if you don't want to tell me," she said as she got up, "I bet you're hungry. Now that you're up, you'll need to eat something in order to regain your strength."

"Thank you for all the kindness that you've shown my lady," he thanked out of deep gratitude.

"You're welcome, and call me Nani," she told he as she left for the kitchen.

"Hey you're up," a little girl cheered as raced into the room. Corey glanced over and saw the small tanned girl with long black hair and a green dress that he could vaguely recall.

"Yes, I just got up a few moments ago," Corey told her.

"That means you can play with me and Stitch for a little while," she announced as she grabbed he by his arm and started tugging.

"Sorry little girl I can't do that quite yet. You're mom told me to stay here and rest while she made me something to eat," he tried to explain to her.

"I'm not a little girl! My name is Lilo and Nani isn't my mother! She is my sister!" Lilo scolded.

"Chill out and relax," Corey tired to clam her down, "I promise to play with you in a little while."

"You better," she warned him with her mad face that still somehow looked sweet and innocent. "I know." Corey gave her a quick look. It was clear to him that she may be a little touched in the head. That, or all that sun finally got to her. "You can meet Stitch."

"Who is this Stitch you keep mentioning?" Corey asked the little girl.

"He's my dog," she boasted. "Here boy!"

"Stitch, what an interesting and _unique_ name," he congratulated her.

"Weird," she smiled, "That is exactly what Nani said." The blue koala-looking animal skittered into the room.

"What is that?" the teen asked in a sort of panicked voice.

"This is Stitch. He's my dog," she announced.

"Are you sure that creature is a dog? It looks more like a genetic mutation between a teddy bear and a koala," he told her is a casual tone of voice.

"Of course, why else would he be at a dog pound?" she so innocently asked. He must admit, she had him beat there. "Say hello Stitch." The blue "dog" glanced around the room and stood up on his legs to the surprise of Corey.

"Hello," it greeted in a stretched out version of the word.

"So it can talk?" Corey inquired, still freaked out about the standing on its legs part more than the talking.

"Yes, but he can only say a few words. All other sounds he makes are just weird noise and sounds I can't comprehend," the little girl explained matter-of-factly.

"Well to be fair, I am kind of jealous," he told her. "I wish I had an awesome animal sidekick just like the one you have."

"Well too bad. I am not going to let you borrow Stitch. He's the only friend I have," she shot down his compliment. Corey knew not to touch on this subject.

"Don't worry, I will find a "dog" that will be twice as better as Stitch is," he said in a smug tone of voice.

"So, Stitch would just get better and better, beating you every time," she warned him.

"Okay Lilo, you have me beat," Corey surrendered. Lilo smiled.

"I have your food ready," Nani announced as she came into the room carrying a small wooden table with a bowl of steaming hot soup and a cup filled with tea, at least he hoped it was tea. Nothing good can come from the color green. Nani noticed that the teen was sitting in the up right position and that Lilo and that thing were in the room as well. "Didn't I tell you to get some rest?"

"Yes ma'am," Corey hung his head.

"And didn't I tell you not to bother our guest?"

"Yes Nani," Lilo apologized but didn't exactly mean it.

"It's okay, she's not bothering me," the teen defended.

"I know, but you really need to get some rest," she told him as she placed the table on his lap, "otherwise you will never fully recover."

"You're right. Thank you for the food," he accepted. Just then, the door to the living room opened and a tall, tanned (yes, this is Hawaii after all, everyone is tanned), male with short black hair burst into the room. He was wearing orange shorts with yellow Hawaiian flower print on them and a white tee shirt with a v-neck collar.

"David, what are you doing here?" Nani asked the young man who came into the room.

"There's a job opening at the shack down by the beach. I came to get you because I talked to the owner. He said just go down for the interview, and the job is as good as yours," he briefly explained then tried to catch his breath.

"I'm on my way," she cheered. The woman ran into the other room to grab her purse and her keys then came back into the room.

"Please," she knelt on her knees and grabbed Lilo by the shoulders, "Please stay out of trouble. This job is important for the family."

"I'll try," Lilo reassured her, somehow the woman was not convinced. She then shot a glance at the teen.

"Got it," he answered as he nodded his head.

"Thank you," she thanked (ha ha), "I'll be back as soon as I can." With that said, the two adults left the house. Everyone sat in silence as Corey ate his food.

"Is there a situation I should be aware of?" the teen asked, trying to break the silence.

"No," Lilo quickly answered. "It's just stupid Nani just leaving me here alone again as she tries to find a job."

"I better not push it," Corey thought to himself as he realized he touched upon a sore subject.

"Can I ask you a question?" the little girl looked to the teen.

"You just did, but you can asked another one," he answered.

"How did you end up in the crater?" she questioned.

"Ill tell you if you can keep a secret," he whispered.

"I promise not to tell a soul," she told him. He nodded his head and told her everything, of course he cleaned it up; after all, she was a little girl.

"I don't believe you," she said after some time passed to take it all in.

"I figured as much, that why I didn't want to tell anyone," the teen admitted.

"I want you to prove it," she said like she was calling him out on a bluff.

"Fine," he smirked and held out his hand.

"That doesn't prove anything!" she yelled.

"I never said I was finished," he said in a mocking tone of voice. A flame appeared in his palm (For all of those who are wondering it's his right hand. Thomas is the only left-handed of the group so you should be able to figure out what hand they fight with by this.). It spread and wrapped around his hand and soon his keyblade appeared.

"Wow, that is amazing," Lilo cheered. "Did you see that Stitch?" She turned to her side when she got no reply. "Where did he go?" Just then, a small explosion was heard from the other side of the house.

The two kids rushed into the wash room where the explosion was heard. They could tell what was going on since a huge cloud of black smoke blocked their view. It took a few seconds before the smoke cleared the air, but they were shocked by what they saw when it did. There was a giant hole in the wall, almost the size of a mini giant, and a panting Stitch in front of it.

"Stitch, what did you do?" Lilo asked.

"I don't think it was Stitch," Corey told the girl. Luckily for him, he still had the keyblade in his hand. The ground below they began to rumble a little. Then a giant shadow with glowing yellow eyes arose from the ground. It crept closer and closer.

"That was a lucky shot you got in 626," the booming voice stated, "but you will not win this fight." The shadow came closer into the light. From what they saw, they couldn't tell what the enemy exactly was. All they knew was that it was tall. From the looks of it, the strange creature had a fish like face, and it was wearing a black jump suit with red trimming. The only exception was that it was shorts and a short sleeve shirt instead of the usual long everything jumpsuit.

"Who are you?" Corey demanded as he pointed his blade to the invader.

"What do you want with my dog?" Lilo interrogated from the safety behind Corey's legs.

"I am Gantu, an intergalactic...."He started his introduction.

"Gantu is fine; I didn't ask for your life story," Corey interrupted, causing the alien thingy to glare at him.

"As for your question little miss, Experiment 626 is a rouge weapon of mass destruction, not a dog. I came to get him back," he explained.

"You can't have him!" Lilo shouted, "he mine!"

"Oh I wasn't asking!" Gantu shouted.

"Doesn't matter," Corey stated, "there's no way you're going to get him!"

"I think you're wrong!" Gantu laughed then snapped his fingers. A huge shadow spread out on the floor and stacks of black muck started sprouting up.

"Lilo, get to safety!" the teen told the girl, but she already left his side. "Or leave and not tell me. Your choice." Corey looked around the room for her, and thought that she must have headed for safety. He also noticed that Stitch was gone as well.

"Haha, fear the power of the heartless," the alien taunted. The shadows solidified and revealed just to be a bunch of Giga Shadows. Corey started to laugh.

"What so funny?" the alien asked like he was deeply insulted.

"Nothing, it's just that they are just giant forms of the weakest heartless known to man and monkeys," he stated while still laughing.

"You don't know power. Get him!" he order and the shadows launched themselves. "I'll get 626 while you're distracted." With that said, the giant fish head left.

The first shadow hit Corey, knocking him to the ground. The teen was too busy laughing to actually defend himself from the assault. When he got up however, his expression had changed.

"Well guess play time is over," he told the shadows with a mean look in his eyes. He quickly glanced around, and all he counted was six. This is nothing, and it shouldn't take too long to defeat them. Corey quickly spun the blade in his hand and slowly started to rotate around. The heartless circled around him, like vultures circling a corpse. A fire ignited and grew bigger the more the teen spun his blade. Corey held up his other hand and move his finger as if it were an invitation. With the slightest notice, the heartless launched themselves all at once.

"Fire tower!" the teen slammed the key and flame spouted into a tall fiery vortex. The heartless slammed into this attack and vanished upon contact. All that remained of this battle were the hearts that gently floated into the sky. The teen looked around the trashed room. "Where's the cat in the hat when you need him?"

The "dog" dodged blast after green blast emitted from the ray gun the alien carried. Each blast hit a part of the kitchen leaving a burnt spot and smoke where ever contact was made.

"Hold still 626," Gantu ordered trying to get a clear shot.

"No," the experiment answered as he crawled along the walls and ceiling of the room. The fish head kept firing but missed every time.

"Enough of this!" he shouted as he holstered his gun. Stitch stopped and stared, wondering what the giant was planning to do. He raised his hand to the ceiling and grabbed the blue koala by the neck. With a mighty swing, he threw the dog into a wall that smashed and sent the creature flying out of the kitchen. "Fool," he muttered and turned around. A few seconds passed and the alien noticed a shadow larger than him engulfing him. "What the?" he questioned as he turned around. He was surprised to see the wanted experiment had grown an extra set of arms holding up a blue volts wagon.

"Blue punch buggy," he laughed as he threw the car at Gantu, sending him flying and crashing through the opposite wall of the room.

Preview for chapter 22:

The battle between Stitch and Gantu reaches its conclusion as a mysterious stranger comes to visit their house. What is the meaning of Family when the word "ohana" is told to Stitch?


	22. Ohana!

Author note: Just a fore-warning, I am going to botch up the the movie plot line of _Lilo and Stitch_ so it'll fit my story better and not interrupt the flow too much. I am also sorry if the story feels a bit rush. Sorry for lack of updates but school is coming to a close and there a lot of work that needs to be done. Speaking of which I should get a start on those papers that are piling up. Well please review after you read. Enjoy!

**Chapter 22: Ohana!**

The smoke and dust caused from the impact slowly cleared to reveal a fallen Gantu trying to get to his feet. The blue kola dog thing ran up to check out the scene. His face scorned as he was not pleased with what he saw.

"I am not done with you yet, but for now I will take my leave," the fish headed alien warned as he scampered off defeated. Stitch smirked then left the scene in search of Lilo.

"It a good thing all the heartless are gone," the teen cheered as he slowly dropped to his feet, "but I don't think we saw the last of them just yet."

"Hey mister, you got some explaining to do!" the little girl scolded as she peaked from behind the doorway, checking to see if the coast was clear.

"That right, I promised I would explain everything to you," the teen chuckled, hoping that she would have forgotten. The girl looked confused and lost for a moment, she didn't know what this guy was talking about.

"How are you going to explain this mess to Nani?" Lilo questioned. Corey looked around and saw all the destruction that happened because of his reckless fighting. He arose to his feet and left the room to see more damage that was caused from Stitches fighting. Clearly the "dog" was more wild than he thought.

"If there ever was a time I needed the Cat in the Hat," the teen thought to himself as he let out a nervous sigh. He looked at the girl who was next to him and saw that she would burst into tears.

"I am already on thin ice as it is. If she comes home and sees this, she will send me away for sure," she slightly sobbed. It was as if she was playing the world's smallest violin and tugging at the teen's heart strings. Surely he would do anything to help this little girl out. After all, he didn't want to break her heart.

"Well why don't you grab Stitch and head down to the beach while I clean up and fix things around here," the teen proposed. The "dog" in questioned appeared and nodded in agreement. Lilo smiled, grabbed her friend by the hand and left the house. "Something tells me I made a big mistake," he thought, "either that or she somehow conned me." He let out a sigh and realized that he is in way over his head.

Corey was hard at work cleaning and fixing the house (with a little help from his fire powers) that he didn't hear a car pull up. It was only when he heard a knock on the door that startled him in to stopping what he was doing. He froze for a few seconds, not knowing whether or not to answer the door. Technically, no one knows he is here so it might bring trouble if family or nosy people are at the door. Then again, it is rude not to answer the door, and chances are, with all the holes in the house, they might have already seen him inside, which could also cause trouble. The knocking occurred again, and Corey answered the door. When he opened the door, he was intimidated by what he saw. There was a huge man of the African-American persuasion at the door, wearing a black suit and had sunglasses on.

"Is there something I can do for you?" Corey nervously asked, not knowing who this guy was and what he wanted.

"I am looking for Nani, is she home?" he had asked, but his voice was nerve wreaking none the less.

"No, she went out to inquire about a job offering," he responded, trying to regain his cool.

"What about the girl, Lilo? Is she here as well?" he asked.

"No," Corey answered, "she took her dog to go and play with her down by the beach."

"What happened here?" he questioned.

"Just a little mishap," the teen did his best to hide the truth. He also noticed that the guy wasn't phased by his responses to the questions that were asked. Something must be up.

"Thank for your time. Let Nani know I'll be by in the morning to take Lilo into my custody," the man boldly stated. A chill went down the teen's spine.

"Who are you?" was all that could escape's Corey's mouth.

"I am Cobra Bubbles of Social Services," the strange man answered as he got into his car and drove away.

"Oh no, this is my fault. If I wasn't here, the heartless wouldn't have come. I knew they were drawn to the keyblade, so why did I have to show it off? I just had to fight and destroy the house. How could I be so stupid?" thoughts like these echoed throughout the teen's mind. He was beating himself up, for things that may have been out of his control. How was he going to explain this to the woman who so kindly took him in?

"What the hell happened here?" the tall tanned woman question, actually more like interrogated the teen when she got home. The teen blankly stared at the woman, not knowing how to answer. He noticed that she was accompany by the same tanned man who came by here earlier in the day. "Well," she pressed on. The teen search the party a little more and noticed that Lilo and Stitch were with her as well.

"You may not believe me," Corey warned her.

"Just try me. There is nothing you can tell me that will surprise me," Nani challenged.

"I am sure this one would be hard to believe," the teen warned yet again.

"Oh please you should hear some of the excuses Lilo comes up with. Aliens, monsters, shadows, I heard it all," she pressed her challenge.

"Well, it does involve aliens," the teen issued a final warning.

"Oh, this is going to be good," the woman smirked.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," the teen started. He relayed the whole day's event to the woman and saw her expression constantly change as the story progress. He also noticed that Lilo's expression was changing as well. He knew that he would regret telling the story, but for some reason he couldn't stop. It just kept coming out, like word vomit.

"I see," the woman sighed as the story was finally over.

"I'm sorry. I did my best," the teen offered his sympathy.

"No I understand," the woman's face went blank as she stood up. "I am sorry for what I am going to do Lilo." The Lilo girl gasped and hid behind the teen, afraid to get hit. Nani picked up Stitched by his back hairs, opened the door and threw him outside. "You caused nothing but problems since you got here! Get out and leave out family alone! We were happy until you came here! We will be better off without you!" The woman slammed the door. The expression on the "dog" went from confused to a face that was a mix of sad and hurt.

"Nani you meanie!" Lilo sobbed as she ran upstairs. Corey sighed.

"I did the right thing," Nani mumbled, trying to reassure herself. David sighed as well and bid his farewell as he left the house.

Outside the house, the blue little creature scratched at the door trying to see if he would be let back in, but it was a failed attempt. He summoned his second pair of arms and looked at each set. He was a little monster. With the sound of a metal clank, both pairs of arms were captured in future spacey like handcuffs.

"This was easier than I expected," the fish-head alien chuckled as he picked up the kola and started walking away from the house.

"Lilo!" Stitched cried out.

A loud knock on the door echoed throughout the whole house. Nani was hesitant to open it since she knew who it was. The knocking continued.

"Coming," Nani shouted as if she was far away. She took several deep breaths trying to prepare herself for the situation. The teen walked into the room and saw a panicked Nani. The woman quickly pulled herself together and opened the door.

"Why Mr. Bubbles, what are you doing here?" she asked, trying to put on a happy face.

"I came for the girl, where is she?" he answered in a light, but still booming voice.

"She is upstairs getting her stuff ready. She will be down in a minute," Nani told him. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No."

"Is there anything I can get you?"

"Just the girl."

"Well you can't have her!" Corey blurted out. He somehow found the confidence to talk back to the towering man.

"What did you say?" Mr. Bubbles asked.

"What are you doing?" Nani whispered in the teen's ear after she rushed over.

"I am not too sure myself. I just know that Lilo is important to you, So I will try to get him to let her stay," he answered back in a low tone of voice.

"What did you say?" the man demanded yet again.

"I said you can't have her! The one place she belong is here with her sister!" Corey answered.

"This place is unsafe and unstable for a little girl. When I stopped by for a surprise visit yesterday, there were holes in the wall and the house was nearly destroyed. You expect me to let her live in a place like this?" the social worker asked.

"What happened yesterday was my fault though. Everywhere I go trouble follows. I didn't make them aware of the fact when they took me in a few days ago. You can't blame her for my mistake!" the teen protested. "Blood family is the most stable place for a growing girl to be, not in some stranger's home. Sure there are times when they disagree, but they are sisters, of course they will fight with each other. Taking her away because of something like that is stupid. Beside, taking her away from this will ruin both their lives!" Corey explained.

"Well I didn't think about it from that angle," the social worker mumbled.

"Please, just give me one more chance," Nani pleaded.

"I am not sure the agency will allow me to do that," he stated, acting unphased by what the teen had said.

"I am ready to go," lilo sighed as she entered the room with a duffel bag.

"I am sorry Lilo, but this is for your own good," Mr. Bubbles sighed, "your staying here with your sister."

"Really?" all the people in the room gasped in amazement.

"Yes, but let me tell you one thing. If I ever have to come back here again under any circumstance, I will take her away," the giant warned and then left the house.

"I get to keep you!" Nani cheered as she gave her sister a bear hug.

"Stop it Nani, your going to crush me to death," Lilo chuckled and complained. Nani let go with a huge smile on her face.

"I am happy for you two," the teen smiled.

"Thank you," Nani thanked as she hugged Corey. "I owe you one."

"No, you don't. Think of it as payment for taking care of me and not killing me when the house was destroyed," the teen chuckled.

"Bye, I am going to go look for Stitch!" Lilo cheered as she rushed out of the house.

"That girl is something else," Nani sighed.

"I think you should go to work and I'll stay here and wait for her to return to the house. If that is okay with you," the teen offered.

"Yes, that would be fine," Nani told him. She quickly gather her stuff and left for work. Corey glanced out the window. For some reason he had the sinking feeling that something bigger was going to go down.

Later that night, Nani returned to an almost empty house.

"I have dinner ready on the table," Corey told the woman.

"That is nice, thank you. Although, where is Lilo?" the woman asked.

"I don't know, she hasn't come home yet. I was going to go out and look for her, but I thought it would be better to wait here for her to return. I am sorry," the teen explained.

"No that is okay. Lets go out and look for her," Nani suggested. Corey nodded and they both left the house. The traveled through the woods behind the house, but didn't go too far when the arrived at a shed

"Lilo likes to hang around here sometime," Nani informed the teen. They quickly searched around in hopes that she would be here at least.

"What are we looking for?" Lilo asked as she appeared out of no where. It seems that she found her dog, but he was still in cuffs.

"Oh Lilo, I was so worried," Nani sighed as she made sure her little sister was okay.

"You should be," a loud voice boomed. The fish-headed alien appeared in front of the family.

"So the alien is real?" Nani gasped as she took a step back.

"Yes," Corey said, "I'll protect you guys!" The teen opened his hand and summoned his keyblade. The alien pulled out a gun that looked like super soaker. He shot it quickly and a net popped out. In nearly the blink of an eye, Stitch was captured.

"Give them black!" Corey shouted and he rushed towards the fish-headed fiend. He swung his blade but he was easily parred by the plasma blaster.

"Too bad, my ship is here too, so today is my victory!" the alien boasted. He rushed to his ship which was nearly five feet way. He threw the net into containment pod (the clear plastic tube at the back of the ship), and ran to the front. When the bag opened, Lilo and Stitch came tumbling out.

"Lilo!" Nani screamed as she saw her sister in the glass tube. With a mighty thrust from the rockets, the ship took off into space.

"No," the teen gasped.

"Lilo!" Stitched shouted, which caused the two humans to turn around and take notice.

"You somehow manage to escape," Corey pointed out.

"Why are you here? Why did he take my sister, answer me!" Nani shouted.

"Please lay off a little Nani," Corey pleaded the case. He knelt down and press the green button on the handcuffs.

"Lilo always said that you could talk. If you can speak, speak!" Nani scolded.

"Ohana," Stitched muttered. Nani looked surprised by the phrase.

"Ohana means family. Family means..."

"Nobody gets left behind," Nani finished. Tears formed in her eyes as she started to regret the way she treated Lilo's dog.

"Don't worry, we will get Lilo back," Corey reassured her.

"How? She already in space," Nani wondered. Stitched tugged on the teen's pant leg and pointed to an area behind the shed.

Preview for chapter 23:

Ever since a fateful encounter with Maleficent, the keybladers have been split up and launched to different worlds. We know that Corey is in Hawaii, so where could the others have ended up?


	23. The Friends Whereabouts!

Author's note: School's out for the summer so I am going to spend most of my free time writing so I can finish out the stories before heading to college. Just be warned that the writing may suffer if I finally get employed again. So enjoy this new chapter and don't forget to review after you read.

**Chapter 23: The Friends' Whereabouts!**

_**The following takes place a few days before the adventures Corey experiences in Hawaii.**_

The sun brightly shone high in the clear blue sky. Heat waves were emitted and could be seen bouncing on the rocks. The land was flat and dry, with vegetation scarcely scattered around.

"Ouch, what hit me?" a male voice cracked. Moans and groans could be heard as the teen tried to regain his senses.

"That's right, I remember now," the voice echoed in his head, "that evil witch blasted me off while I was trying to buy my friends time." The teen looked up at the sky, "I hope they were able to escape and can come rescue me. Then again I don't know how to get in touch with them to begin with," he sighed.

"God the sun is bright," the teen commented as he turned over onto his stomach. He tried to get up, but fell flat on his belly. "Strange, I can't get up; I must be out of energy," he thought as he took a deep breath. He tried to get up again but had the same result. "Wait a minute, it feels like I have to coordinate my body differently, but why is that?" he thought to himself as he took another deep breath. "Let's give this another try!" The teen struggled to get up yet again and finally managed to get to his feet.

"This is good, we are making progress; now let's find some water," he thought. He looked around and saw a tree off in the distance. "There must be an oasis over there," the teen thought. He took off in a sprint but fell back on his stomach again. "Okay this is going to require more effort than I originally thought, but why am I having trouble?" The teen got back on his feet. "Let's take this one step at a time. Left, Left, Left, Right, Right, Left," he told himself as he slowly walked to the tree.

After some time had passed, and falling flat on his belly several times the teen reached the oasis. What made the trip worthwhile was the fact that it was real and not just a mirage caused by the sun and the extreme heat. Not bothering to pay any attention to details right now, he dunked his head in the water and started drinking, when he finally pulled out, he felt refreshed and restored. That changed in a split second when he finally saw his appearance.

"What is going on here?" he asked, blinking is disbelief. In his reflection, he was portrayed as a lion, roughly in the teen age years. Thomas had black fur with a hint of blue, but his underside was white. His eyes were still the same milk chocolate brown they always were; he was glad that they didn't change. Then again, he could be sarcastic about that, but no one was around to confirm it. His mane was a short black Mohawk with the blond streak at the very tip. The teen looked around and began to panic, but calmed himself down within a few minutes.

"I must find a way out of here!" he told himself as he looked into the distance to see a very famous rock.

_**Thomas has ended up on the outskirts of the Desert Kingdom, also known as the Pride Lands, home to King Simba. What adventures await him as he tries to find a way to communicate with his friends and leave this world?**_

The moon glistened brightly in the dark sky. The view was not obstructed by the heavy dark gray clouds that gently floated in the sky. Crackling could be heard echoing throughout the area. There was a girl laying in a patch of dead grass next to a well. She slowly came to and awoke. Normally one would panic if they woke up in a field filled with tombstones and surrounded by an iron clad gate, but she was different. In fact, she actually enjoyed morbid stuff like this.

"Where... where am I?" she silently asked herself as she looked around and remembered the epic battle she was involved in. She quickly arose to her feet and started to look around to figure out exactly where she was. Faint music could be heard in the distance.

"I think I should follow that noise," she concluded and started running where it slightly grew louder and louder. She kept running but soon passed a tombstone which had a broken mirror in the hands of a headless fairy. The girl ran past it at first but noticed something strange, so she had to back track to take a look.

"Oh no!" she screamed as she noticed she had no reflection. She checked herself out, and was positive that she was physically there. "Why don't I have a reflection?" she wondered as she started to check herself out again. Her skin was pale, almost translucent. She wore ruby red heels, with fishnets running up her legs. She had a black, puffy skirt that went down to her knees, and had a red corset with black lacing. I'm being lazy right now, you think of the pattern. There was a choker around her neck with a strange medallion slightly dangling from it. Her nails were painted bright red, and she noticed that her hair had been done in a fro with a blue lightning-bolt pattern in it.

"Thomas is going to have a field day with this," she thought to herself as she discovered her hair pattern. "I must be a vampire if I don't have a reflection, and since I don't sparkle, that confirms the fact," she told herself. She smirked and continued to follow the music. After what seemed like hours she left the graveyard and stumbled into town, where the source of the music was heard. Not wanting to be seen by all the strange creatures who could be heartless, she hid behind a giant tree with several skeletons hanging down from it.

_Skeleton Jack is king of the pumpkin patch, everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now!_

"Excuse me," a female voice told the teen as she bumped into her. The girl turned as saw a woman hiding behind the same tree with her. She looked almost like a rag doll.

_In this town, we call home, everyone hails the pumpkin song. La..._

A tall, skeleton like figure started to emerge from the well that was in the middle of the town while everyone was singing.

"Who is that?" the girl asked.

"That is Jack, the most amazing guy ever," the rag doll sighed a sigh of love. The teen sighed; she knew where she was now.

_**Courtney arrived in Halloween Town during the End of Halloween Festival (That is what the song is going to be known as, so deal with it people). How is she going to escape a town full of monsters and reunite with her friends?**_

The sun could not be seen in the sky, so it was hard figure out what time of day it was. Thick white clouds covered the sky while thick blankets of snow covered the land. A gentle snow was raining down from the sky.

"I hate snow," the girl remarked as she awoke and quickly jumped to her feet. She knew that sleeping in snow, not even that, cold weather, could kill you. "How did I end up here, and where is everyone?" she wondered then the painful memories of losing to Maleficent appeared in her head.

"That's right, Thomas bought us time but we couldn't escape. I wonder if he ended up in a different world from where he was blasted off. I wonder if the others managed to escape. I hope everyone is okay," these thoughts echoed throughout her head. She hugged herself, the cold weather was starting to affect her, but it wasn't too bad, and at least it wasn't night time, so that was a huge plus. She looked around and all she saw was white. She didn't know which way to go to find a town, village, tent, anything would be helpful at this point in time. She let out a sigh and looked down and saw that she was wearing black flats that almost looked similar to sandals. This must have triggered something in her head because she soon checked herself out. She had long white socks that covered the better part of her lower leg. Black sweats pants that went a little way past the middle part of her lower leg; a weird gray sweater like shirt with the right flap over the left, and a black belt that kept it that way.

"Interesting," she remarked, "my garments are oriental-ish." She looked around and couldn't see any smoke that might signal a house or something nearby. If the teen didn't do something soon, she would probably die out here, but that when an idea struck her. A small but powerful whirlwind whipped up around her right hand. With a mighty claps, she summoned her keyblade.

"Man this thing is cold!" she screamed and dropped her weapon. Instead of picking it up, she lazily summoned it back to her hand. "Okay, I can bear it," she reassured herself, "I can use my wind powers to find smoke, a town or something. I can do this!"

_**Rachel landed in the snow covered and vastly deserted area of the Land of Dragons. How is she going to survive and make it back to her friends when she's out in the cold wilderness of this world?**_

The moon was full in the night sky as stars litter the sky, each shining with their own light. This was the kind of sky you could never see in the city and was a too common occurrence in the county. Dandelion seeds (those little fuzzy things that you blow off) gently floated in the air, dancing to an unknown location. After traveling on the wind for quite some time, the seeds landed and the petals (let's call them that) opened up. Each one revealing a small girl, but there was only two so it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Where am I?" the girl with brown hair panicked as she woke up. She quickly exited the flower like thing and ran around like a maniac. Everything was so big, bigger than it is suppose to be. A blade of grass or a leaf is not supposed to tower over and mock you. "How do I get out of here?" she asked as she continued to search around. She finally stopped and calmed down, trying to think about things rationally. She found a small puddle right next to where she was standing and noticed she was wearing a small white dress that almost looked like a towel was wrapped around her. That and she had wings.

"Aren't you excited?" a young woman's voice asked.

"Excited for what?" the teen questioned and saw the other girl. She was wearing the same white dress and had blond hair; the only difference is that she was shorter.

"I am not sure exactly what may happen, but doesn't the unknown scream adventure," the blond stated.

"Guess you can say that," the teen nervously chuckled. They both turned and saw a lit up path. They looked at each other then back at the path; they knew they must take it.

_**Manikha ended up in the land of faeries, Pixie Hollow. What will she discover as she walks down the unknown path and what is she going to do to meet up with her missing friends?**_

**Preview for chapter 24:**

Back in Hawaii, Corey teams up with Stitch to rescue Lilo. Armed with Stitch's ship, they take off into space to rescue the little girl before it is too late.


	24. THE FINAL CHAPTER!

Author Note: First I want to apologize to my few readers that actually read this story. I am sorry that I just stopped writing for it, and just left the story in limbo. I am pretty sure that I did it at a crappy time. After all, the gang is split up and in different worlds, I mean, what the hell was I thinking. I also won't be writing for this anymore since I am in college and that is going to require the majority of my time. I thought that I might be able to get it done at a fast pace since I have it all planned out and outlined, but that blew up in my face. If your thinking "how is he writing this now, even though he is in college?" I thought of that too, and I just happened to find a break period. So in order for some of your questions to be answered, this 'chapter' so to speak, is going to serve as a guide like thing for the other half of this series. So enjoy, and please don't kill me. As always, please review after you read!

**Darknessslayer's Guide to:**

**Kingdom Hearts: Elemental **

**Chapter 24****: Gravity, You Used to be Cool!**

In this chapter, the final chapter of the _Until We Meet Again_ arc, Corey, the Keyblade wielder of fire, flies off into Space with Stitch in order to rescue Lilo. Using Stitch's hidden spaceship, they manage to catch up Gantu, the fish-headed alien who thinks he is taking Stitch to his master. After breaking in, they are ambushed by heartless, and since there is no oxygen in space, Corey's fire power proves to be useless. After hacking and slashing their way to the Captain's room. Corey breaks Lilo out of the contain pod as a surprised Gantu battles Stitch. After defeating the galactic commander and setting the ship to self destruct, Stitch and his party manage to leave the ship seconds before it explodes. Lilo is soon reunited with Nani, and Stitch becomes a part of the family. The key chain on the keyblade changes to Stitches head with the number 626 engraved, but Corey didn't notice as a keyhole shaped portal appears in the sky, signally it is time for Corey to leave that world. Thomas' ship arrives from the portal and takes Corey to the next world, where it's owner happens to be.

**Chapter 25: Pride!**

This chapter starts the _Reunion _arc, and focus around the later half of the events Thomas' was involved in. It starts with the teen fighting a heard of hyenas in his lion form as he races up Pride Rock in order to assist King Simba, and to stop him. Then he has a flashback to Simba taking him in since he had no where else to go and the promise he made to watch over his daughter. Then it jumps to an enraged Simba, who does not approve of the boy that she has fallen for. The scene changes back to Thomas as he takes out the crowds and continues his climb. Sure the male lion is the son of Scar, but he in nothing like his father. After just making it in time, Thomas relays his information ans the final confrontation with Zira begins. After a fierce battle, Simba wins and approves of Kova for his daughter Kiara, since he did fight along side them. Thomas smiles as he knows what he did was a good thing, and notices that the key-chain on his weapon changes to Simba's head, and a weird key-shaped portal in the sky. He bid farewell and best wishes to the lions as he leaves back to the oasis where he came from. Corey arrives with the teen's airship and Thomas changes back to his own form but soon hits Corey on the back of the head for using his ship. After a heated argument, Corey flies the two teens out of the world.

**Chapter 26: I Must Tell Shang!**

Thomas and Corey decide to split up to reclaim the girls. Corey, being an idiot and not remembering who built the airship, wonders how they are going to do that. Thomas then reveals the Mini Phoenix II, a special three person recon ship. He then tells Corey to take the main ship so he can test pilot the small ship. Meanwhile, Rachel, who is traveling along with Mulan, the woman who rescued her from a snowy death, is helping to escort the princesses so some slimy price can have his pick. Unannounced to them, the three girls fall in love with Mulan's three male friends from the military. Fearing that she is somehow to blame, Rachel gives herself up for marriage when they final arrive at the palace. After all, they heard Mulan's advice, but she was the one who encouraged it and gave it an extra push. The emperor considers it and brings out his snot-nose horror of a son who is like 12. Mulan takes Rachel place, since it was her job to look after the girls, and plus she would be a better choice. Just then an explosion is heard and the Great Golden Dragon of Unity forbids the marriage. Everything gets resolved, and it turns out that Corey and Mushu were behind the dragon thing. Rachel's key-chain changes as well, but this time to Mushu, while a new portal appears, signaling the time to leave.

**Chapter 27: The Christmas That Almost Wasn't!**

Thomas arrives in Halloween town and is soon ambushed by a distressed Sally. She takes him to Christmas town when Courtney is waiting. It seems that Santa and Jack were kidnapped by Boggie and his gang and they have to set them free in time to save Christmas. Thomas says he'll get the keys from the children, on the sole reason that it is the only time he will have the chance to get away with child abuse. Courtney agrees and decides to take on Boggie herself. After all, she normally never gets to take on a boss. The teens head into the factory and for some reason Sally follows Thomas to the packaging room where Lock, Shock, and Barrel, are. They show the key that is needed and start dancing, hiding the key among one of them. Thomas shoots lighting, showing that he now knows magic, but misses, or so they think. After a fierce battle and a huge struggle to shove them into boxes, Thomas shows that he had the key all along. He ten tells Sally that he shot the key with a Thundgara spell and then picked it up with Magnagara (forgot how to spell the name of the spell), to take it away from them. He also tells Sally to never tell anyone that he knows magic. Meanwhile Courtney is losing her battle with Boggie, since he is a dirty fighter. Thomas shows up to help, but only provides some support, as to not step on her pride. Sally frees Jack with the key, allowing him to join in on the fray. With an awesome combo attack between Jack and Courtney, Oggie Boogie is defeated once and for all. They save Christmas as a new portal appears. Courtney sees her key-chain change into Jack's head, but shrugs it off. They soon leave, and Santa promises them, an awesome Christmas gift each.

**Chapter 28: You Are a Fairy, Believe It! **

Manikha and Tinker bell are flying around Pixie Hollow looking for Vidia, who made Tinker Bell ruin all the preparations they had done in order to bring Spring to the main land. When they finally confront the wind fairy, they learn that their powers aren't enough, only for back up to arrive at the nick of time. Manikha is happy that her friend showed up, despite all being fairies, and they finally take Vidia down. Then pulling all of their powers together, they get spring back on track. A portal opens, and the key-chain on Manikha's blade changes to a fairy, one that resembles Navi from the Legend f Zelda. They all leave, reunited. This chapter is the end of the _Reunion_ arc.

**Chapter 29: Congestion!**

This chapter is the start of the _Darkness _arc, the final arc of this story. They gang arrives at Radiant Garden to see it being over run with heartless. Using the power of the keyblades, and with assistance from the Hollow Bastion Restoration Crew, they manage to hack and slash their way to Maleficent's castle.

**Chapter 30: A Chance at a Rescue!**

The group arrives inside the castle only to see it is the only place without any heartless. There are five separate paths to take, despite having the benefit of numbers and being stronger as a group, they all decide to take a path by themselves. While Thomas travels down his chosen path, he runs across Riku, who he soon sets free. Courtney saves Sora from his cell, while Manikha did the same with Kairi. After pointless traveling, they all discovered the paths all led to the same place, the Door to Darkness. Outside that door, they meet King Mickey. The king goes on to tell them about the power of the elemental keyblades, and the ultimate attack that all five can produce.

**Chapter 31: Hesitation!**

The group can feel the evil witch's presence behind the door and in the world of darkness that it leads to. Thomas is eager to go in and finish everything once and for all, but the others are reluctant since they don't know what they will face. After a motivational speech from the king, everyone find their courage and crosses through the door into the unknown.

**Chapter 32: Final Confrontation!**

This is the last chapter of the _Darkness _arc, and the last chapter of the story. After a short battle with Maleficent, in her human form, the teens have the advantage. She soon plays her trump card and transform into a dragon, which is at least ten times stronger than the witch herself. Thomas notices they only have a small window of time to attack, if they don't use it, everything will be over, and they would lose everything. By combining the five elemental keyblades to preform the Elemental Burst, and the three legendary keyblades to preform the Triple Harmony, they manage to almost defeat the witch. Thomas, sacrifices all the light in his body (unknown to his friends at the time) to give their attack the extra boost it needs and finally defeats the witch once and for all. Although what they didn't notice was that she casted one final spell before her demise and resurrected the organization. They story ends with Riku and Sora taking the teens to Twilight town and treats them to sea salt ice cream as a thanks for the rescue.

A/N: After chapter thirty-two, was suppose to start the sequel, Elemental: Rescue, where the gang battles the organization. I may choose to write it, since I spent a lot of time on Rescue and not Elemental. If I don't write it after all, I may do another guide chapter like this once.

I hope this may answer any questions you may have. If not feel free to ask me questions.


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